August 25

Here is what happened in Football History on August 25: The Lions and Patriots duel in Montreal; the AFL starts putting players' names on jerseys; and the College All-Stars shock the Champion Washington franchise. We remember the people and events that made the gridiron a great sport. We will provide you with a little bit of football nostalgia. This early team football history segment features the Great events, Franchise formations, and the stories of these long-forgotten teams in some cases that helped shape the arena of American pro football into what it is today.

• August 25, 1943 - The 10th Annual Chicago Charities College All-Star game is played in the Windy City as over 48,000 fans watched the College All-Stars dismantle the defending champion Washington squad 27-7! The MVP for the college team was University of Wisconsin running back Pat Harder.
• August 25, 1960 - One of the AFL's teams on this date started putting a player's name on the back of their jerseys. The LA Chargers had a sewn name block above the numbers to clearly identify the player by name. Our friends at Gridiron Uniform Database have this covered very well in an article found here.
• August 25, 1969 - In Montreal, the NFL's Detroit Lions defeated the Boston Patriots by a score of 22-9 in a preseason exhibition to entertain our friends north of the border.

• August 25, 1900 - Chuck Carney was a former end from the University of Illinois. After playing for the Illini from 1918 through the 1921 seasons he was enshrined in the College Football hall of Fame in 1966. Carney also excelled on the hardwoods as he became the first Big 10 conference athlete to be named as an All-American in both football and basketball. He played pro football for one season with the AFPA's Columbus Panhandles. After he was done playing he coached at several schools and then worked as a NY Stock Exchange financial representative.
• August 25, 1946 -  Charlie Sanders was a former tight end of the University of Minnesota that ended up being a third round draft pick of the Detroit Lions. As a rookie he caught 40 passes for over 500 yards, stunning opponents who in that era were not expecting much offensive production from a TE. He was voted into the Pro Bowl 7 times in his 10 year NFL career and even made the NFL all 1970's team! Sanders was selected to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the induction class of 2007.
• August 25, 1953 - Doug English was a defensive tackle from the University of Texas. He is remembered in the great museum called the College Football Hall of Fame since 2011 when he was enshrined there. He also went on to play in the NFL as part of the "Silver Rush" of the Detroit Lions and in 1979 was named as the Motor City team's Defensive MVP. The 1983 season was special for English as he registered 13 sacks and scored two safeties! He registed four safeties in his career tying with several others throughout NFL history with the most.
• August 25, 1965 - Cornelius Bennett was a former linebacker from Alabama. This prolific LB remarkably is one of only two Bama players to have ever been names as an All-American three times (LB Woodrow Lowe being the other.) He is remembered in the College Football Hall of Fame, where he entered as part of the induction class of 2005. Bennett went on to play professionally for the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons and the Indianapolis Colts at LB. He also was selected to 5 Pro Bowls and was the AFC Defensive Player of the Year two times in 1988 and 1991. Bennett played in all four of Buffalo's Super Bowl appearances in the 1990's and then he played in a fifth SB with the Falcons.
• August 25, 1972 - Marvin Harrison was a wide receiver that came out of Syracuse University. The Indianapolis Colts drafted the speedster with the 19th pick in the 1996 NFL draft after dealing QB Jeff George to the Atlanta Falcons for it.  Harrison soon became Colt's QB Peyton Manning's favorite target as he played for 13 seasons. The eight time Pro Bowler was voted on to the 2000's All Decade team and when he hung up his cleats after the 2008 season he finished second in career receptions for the great Jerry Rice. Harrison was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame