August 16

In this episode, we discuss the AFL expansion team, the Miami Dolphins; the Grand old man of football, Amos A. Stagg, is born, and the NFL leaves the country for the first time in an international exhibition game. We will provide you with a little bit of football nostalgia. This daily football history segment features the Great events, Franchise formation anniversaries, the birthdays of notable Hall of Fame players, coaches, or anyone else in our great game, and many more Legendary stories of the Gridiron.

• August 16, 1965 - The Miami Dolphins franchise forms and becomes the AFL's first expansion franchise. About 8 seasons later the team would become the first and at the time of this writing only undefeated NFL Champion in the Super Bowl Era. Wow a lot can happen in 8 years! George Wilson was the Dolphins fist head coach, and he was there for four seasons until the legendary Don Shula took over and stayed as the side line boss for the next 26 seasons.
• August 16, 1976 - Tokyo, Japan - In the first NFL game outside of North America, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Diego Chargers 20-10 in a preseason game per the NFL.com. Nearly 38,000 fans were in attendance at the stadium.
• August 16, 2010 - The New Meadowlands Stadium, which is now MetLife Stadiun, hosted in inaugural football game as the Giants defeated the Jets, 31-16, in a 2010 preseason game per NFL.com.

• August 16, 1862, in West Orange New Jersey, was College Football Hall of Fame Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. Stagg was a great innovator of many items we know in football such as the huddle, man in motion, and more. Most of his career was as the head man for the University of Chicago Maroons.
• August 16, 1913 - Bobby Wilson was a former halfback at SMU. He is found in the College Football Hall of Fame from the entry class of 1973. The Mustang rusher earned All-American honors for his play after the 1935 season when he was a senior. He was drafted 40th overall in the 1936 NFL Draft by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• August 16, 1921 - Dick Wildung was a tackle from Minnesota that is also found in the College Football Hall of Fame inducted in 1957. The Golden Gopher lineman earned consensus All-American honors for his play in the 1941 and 1942 seasons. After college he went on to play for the Green Bay Packers after serving for his country a few years during World War II in the United States Navy. He played 6 seasons all together for the Packers earning Pro Bowl honors after the 1951 season.
• August 16, 1926 - Art Weiner was a University of North Carolina end who was selected into the College Hall of Fame in 1992. He also played professional ball for the NFL's New York Yanks. In 1949 the Tar Heel receiver tied the then NCAA record when he caught 49 passes in the season, quite a lot for the running style of play of the era.
• August 16, 1930 - Frank Gifford was a halfback from the University of Southern California. He has been immortalized in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Gifford had a great 11 year NFL career as a back and a flanker for the NY Giants. He won the 1956 NFL Most Valuable player Award and helped his team win the NFL Championship that same year. After hanging up his cleats he spent 27 years broadcasting ABC's Monday Night Football many of them alongside Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meridith.
• August 16, 1935 - Bill Glass the former guard from Baylor University and is an enshrined player in the College Football Hall of Fame. Glass' prfessional career actually started north of the border with a season in Saskatchewan with the Rough Riders. He also played 11 seasons in the NFL both for the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns. As a member of the Browns he helped the team to win the NFL Championship in 1964 and the Eastern Title in 1965.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by Theodore C. Marceau, N.Y. circa 1906 and is titled " A.A. Stagg, half-length portrait, facing right."