July 10

In this episode we discuss a previous NFL Lions franchise, football with the Blues and a Mountaineer on a mission. We will provide you with a little bit of football nostalgia. This daily football history segment features the Great events, Franchise formation anniversaries 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.

The picture in the banner above is from the Hartford Courant on September 29, 1926 and is titled " Hartford Blues vs. Yellow Jackets ad ."

The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day comes from the September 14, 1926 New York Daily News when it posted this headline: 

PRO GRID STARS SIGNED BY BUTLER

• July 10, 1926 - The Brooklyn Lions franchise formed in the NFL. The article talks of Brooklyn Lions President and Manager Eddie Butler signing up players to his recently founded Lions team. The team was put together there with support from the League offices so as to counter the first AFL’s deployment of their team the Brooklyn Horsemen. 

• July 10, 1926 - Hartford Blues franchise is accepted into the NFL and survives only during the inaugural season in the League. According to the ConnecticutHistory.org website the Blues were the only NFL team to have called the State of Connecticut their home, that is except for the New York Giants who played at the New Haven Yale Bowl in 1973 and 1974 awaiting their new Meadowlands stadium to be completed. The Blues team actually started in Waterbury, Connecticut according to writer Andy Piaskic in the article. George Mulligan a local sports promoter started the Waterbury Blues in 1924 as an independent pro football team. Mulligan in 1926 moved the team to Hartford and paid the NFL entry fee and they became a member in the League. It was a rough year as they played against some great players including Ernie Nevers and Johnny Blood of Duluth, Guy Chamberlin of the Frankford Yellow Jackets, Harry Stuhldreher (one of the famed Four Horsemen of Notre Dame) who played for Brooklyn in 1926, Steve Owen of the Giants,  and Pete Henry of Canton. They were supposed to also face Jim Thorpe when playing against the Bulldogs but he was injured for that game and did not participate. The Blues only manage to finish the season with a 3-7 record despite playing all home games save two. The NFL in 1927 wanted to shed some of its numbers thus after a vote Hartford was dropped from its ranks. The Blues did play as an independent team one more season though posting a 7-1 record as the Hartford Giants and then shortly after the season, disbanded. It is interesting to note that according to an ad in the Hartford Courant on September 25, 1926 a person could buy a season ticket for the Blues home games for $17.25! Isn't that about the cost of a beer and a hotdog at an NFL game now?
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30 Sep 1926, Thu Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut) Newspapers.com

• July 10, 2017 - According to the NFL.com website the Kansas City Chiefs promoted co-director of player personnel Brett Veach to the position of General manager. Since that move the Chiefs have made at least the conference title game every season since 2018 & have appeared in the last 2 Super Bowls of course winning Super Bowl LIV.  The NFL.com article goes on to note that both Andy Reid and Brett Veach were signed to 6-year contract extensions in 2020. SOme of the highlight Chiefs Transactions that Veach helped orchestrate were the trade of QB Alex Smith to Washington in 2018 that made Patrick Mahomes starter in just his second season.The KC signing of safety Tyrann Mathieu to a 3-year, $42M deal in 2019. The unprecedented contract extensions of Patrick Mahomes for 10 years, $450M, tight end Travis Kelce at 4 years, $57.3M  and defensive tackle Chris Jones with an inking of 4 years, $80 million in 2020.

July 10, 1960 - Cleveland, Ohio - Darryl Talley the West Virginia linebacker from 1979 to 1982 was born. The National Football Foundation tells us that Darryl was such a versatile athlete at linebacker that he could play either at the line of scrimmage or on the outside. Talley registered 484 career tackles which was a school record that stood for 21 years. Darryl also posted 28 tackles for loss, 19 sacks, and five interceptions in his four seasons in Morgantown. Talley was a unanimous All-America and was named the WVU team’s Most Valuable Player in 1982 as a senior. Darryl Talley was selected to enter into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. After college he was a second round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 1983 NFL Draft. He enjoyed 12 seasons in the NFL with the Bills, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings, starting 187-of-216 career games he was on the roster for. The two-time Pro Bowler played in four Super Bowls with Buffalo and was named First Team All-Pro by the Sporting News in 1990 and 1993. Talley logged 38.5 career sacks and forced 17 fumbles for his brilliant pro career.  

• July 10, 1960 - Roger Craig was a 4 time Pro Bowl runningback for the San Francisco 49ers. He was a part of 3 Super Bowl Winning teams for the Niners and in 1988 won the Offensive Player of the Year. He played for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders and Minnesota Vikings. Interesting fact is that Roger was the first NFL player to have 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. Marshall Faulk and Christian McCaffrey are the only other players to have accomplished that feat. 
• July 10, 1988 - Antonio Brown is a Pro -Bowl wide receiver that played for the Pittburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders (sort of), New England Patriots, and won a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.
• July 10, 1989  - Cameron Jordan the defensive lineman that played for the New Orleans Saints.

For more stats on football people born on July 10th check out Pro Football Reference.

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