August 1

In this edition we discuss the establishment of the Giants and the Detroit Panthers in to the NFL and the Seahawks first live action as well as the birthdays of notable Hall of Fame players, coaches or anyone else in our great game and many more  Legendary stories of the Gridiron.

See more great Pro Uniform Graphics at Gridiron -Uniforms.com

• August 1, 1925 - Detroit Panthers franchise is accepted into the NFL and plays in the League during the 1925 and 1926 seasons. According to the American Football Database the Panthers were the second franchise to try and make a go of it in the Motor City, the first being the Detroit Heralds/Tigers team in the early 1920s. The Panthers were pieced together by future Hall of Famer, Jimmy Conzelman. Conzelman was a quarterback who formerly played with the Decatur Staleys, Rock Island Independents and the Milwaukee Badgers. Jimmy C. wore many hats on this team serving as the team's owner, coach, and starting quarterback. He built the squad around a strong defense. It seemed to work too as the Panthers jumped out to start the season with an 8-1 record. However a 6-3 upset loss to Rock Island on Thanksgiving Day knocked the Panthers out of first place and they ended the season in third place. Detroit put hope in to expounding upon their 1925 success, however they started off the 1926 season poorly with an 0-3 record. After rallying to a 4-0-2 record in their next six games, they lost their last three. Conzelman gave up the franchise and joined the Providence Steam Roller as player-coach. He would later go on to win NFL Championships with Providence in 1928 and then coach the Chicago Cardinals to an NFL Title in 1947.
• August 1, 1925 - The New York Giants franchise forms and starts it's long rich history in the NFL. As we discussed on the July 29 edition of this series, Tim Mara founded the Giants organization when on advice from then NFL president, Joe Carr, Mara bet on the NFL with $500 of his own money to fund the NY Football Giants and later infuse another $25,000 to ensure its survival. The gamble paid off for Mr. Mara as he watched his investment payoff according to the ProFootballHOF.com. A wise investment indeed as in December of the first season more than 70,000 onlookers turned out at the Polo Grounds to see the Giants play the Chicago Bears, who had just signed Illinois College sensation, Red Grange, the most famous pro football player of the 1920s. The franchise has seen four NFL Championships (1927, 1934, 1938 & 1956) and four Super Bowl Victories {XXI(1986), XXV (1990), XLII (2007) & XLVI (2011)}.
• August 1, 1969 - The 36th annual Chicago Charities College All Stars game. The NY Jets won 26-24 over the college stars before a crowd of 74,208. The MVP award, always given to the college player team, happened to be Greg Cook the quarterback from the University of Cincinnati.
• August 1, 1975 - The 41st Chicago Charities College All Stars game. The Steelers win 21-14 as a crowd of 54,103 watches. Note there was not an MVP nominated in 1975 or 1976's game.
• August 1, 1976 - The Seattle Seahawks take the field for the first time in history in a preseason game aganst the 49ers in the brand new Seattle Kingdome. You can learn more about the Kingdome in our July 23 edition of this series.
• August 1, 1987- Arena Bowl I in Pittsburgh's Civic Arena as Denver  Dynamite defeats Pittsburgh Gladiators 45-16, Gary Mullen was the MVP of the game.

SEC Adds another School

• August 1, 1990 - The Southeastern Conference welcomed the University of Arkansas into their Conference of collegiate athletics. The Razorbacks officially entered the SEC on July 1, 1991 along with the University of South Carolina. According to the SEC's official website, They completed their first year of competition in the SEC in the 1991-1992 school year.
• August 1, 2002 - Baltimore Ravens sign Ray Lewis to  at the time the largest signing bonus in history, $19 million when he inked his new 5 year contract.

• August 1, 1929 - Beaver, Pennsylvania - Joe Palumbo was a guard out of the University of Virginia playing there from 1948 through 1951 who is heralded in the College Football Hall of Fame. The National Football Foundation has a really nice biography sketch of Joe where they say in 1951 Palumbo earned All-America honors. The Touchdown Club of Washington D. C. gave him the Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award also in that same year as he was named Athlete of the Year in the State of Virginia. Mr. Palumbo can also be found enshrined in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
• August 1, 1948 - Houston Texas - Legendary wide receiver Cliff Branch was born. Branch grew up in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Houston and attended Worthing High School. Branch played two seasons of junior college ball at Wharton in Teexas and then played his final two year of college at the University of Colorado. He was drfted by the Oakland Raiders in the 1972 NFL Draft and plyed there for fourteen seasons. Unfortunately the world lost Mr. Branch in 2019, so his posthumous enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was bittersweet for 2022.
• August 1, 1978 - Immokalee, Florida - Edgerrin James, the  Pro Football Hall of Fame runningback of the Indianapolis Colts and later the Arizona Cardinals was born. 

A special Thanks to Bill Schaefer, Tim Brulia and  the guys at Gridiron Uniforms Database for the use of their great uniform graphics!

For more stats on football people born on August 1 check out Pro Football Reference. And for more history visit Onthisday.com.

See something that happened on this date that we missed? Please let us know via email at PigskinDispatch@gmail.com.

August 1 history can be viewed here from our YouTube Channel!

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographers Harris and Ewing circa 1923 and is titled " Football game ."