July 13

In this edition, we discuss professional football franchise owners trading their teams like football cards with each other, hair samples given as Sorky and the Plaid Bull are remembered for their great play on their birthday, and a little bit of football nostalgia. 

This daily football history segment features the great events, franchise formation anniversaries, and the birthdays of notable Hall of Fame players, coaches, or anyone else in our great game, as well as many more legendary stories of the Gridiron.

The picture in the banner above was taken in 2021 by Darin Hayes at the Pro Football Hall of Fame's display in the Gold Jacket Room.

The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day takes us to the July 14, 1972 edition of the News-Messenger in Fremont, Ohio when they posted the following headline:

The story told of how on July 13, 1972 owners from the LA Rams, Robert Irsay and the Baltimore Colts, Carroll Rosenbloom swapped franchises in a rare NFL owner's trade. This $19 million deal had Irsay and partner Willard Keland of Racine, Wisconsin purchasing the Rams then they traded the franchise to Rosenbloom who had multiple financial interests in Southern California including stock in Warner Brothers. Rosenbloom in turn said he would keep Tommy Prothro as the head coach of his newly acquired LA squad stating that,” One of the reasons I wanted the Rams was because he’s tied up for five years.” It is interesting that just months later, Prothro was dismissed on January 24, 1973, in favor of Chuck Knox. Less than a year later Prothro became the head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like The News-Messenger in Fremont, you need to check out Newspapers.com. At Newspapers.com, you can get access to over 640 million pages’ worth of news from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and more dating back from 1798 to yesterday.  Get a free one week subscription to Newspapers.com by visiting SportsHistoryNetwork.com/newspapers. And with a paid subscription, you’ll also be helping to support the production of this and other Sports History Network shows.

July 13, 1994 - Former NFL RB, O.J. Simpson gives hair samples to authorities as he was being investigated for murder. 

• July 13, 1903 - Salem, Ohio - One of Carnegie Tech’s tackles from 1923 through the 1926 season, Lloyd Yoder claimed his date of birth. The National Football Foundation celebrates this great player with a nice biography sketch that includes that Carnegie Tech, now called Carnegie Mellon, was a big-time football power when Lloyd Yoder played. Carnegie Tech played juggernauts of the era such as Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Penn State, and West Virginia. “The Plaid Bull” as Yoder was called lettered four times on the gridiron at Carnegie and  had a record of 21-11-2 in his time playing which included three victories in four starts against powerful cross-town rival Pittsburgh per the National Football Foundation. During the 1926 season Yoder and company pulled off one of the biggest college upsets in early football when they knocked off Notre Dame 19-0 helping to secure the Plaid Bull as an All-America selection that season! Lloyd Yoder’s collegiate football records are celebrated in the College Football Hall of Fame after his induction in 1982. Lloyd proudly served in World War II as a lieutenant commander in the Navy. Using his fine education and life lessons later in life, Yoder worked for NBC for 40 years, managing stations in San Francisco, Denver, Cleveland, and Chicago and holding the title of vice-president. This man had football in his blood as he later worked 25 years, from 1928 to 1952, as a football official. 
• July 13, 1922 - Istanbul, Turkey - Alex Sarkisian, a two way player from Northwestern at center and at linebacker during the football era of 1946 to 1948 was born. According to his bio on the FootballFoundation.org, “Sorky’s” coach for the Wildcats Bob Voigts remembers Sarkisian's great leadership with this story:" We were playing Minnesota and got behind 16-0. Alex called the players together and said, 'We are going to win. Anyone who doesn't think so can get off the field right now.' We won 19-16." The 1948 Northwestern team went to the Rose Bowl and beat California 20-14. In 1948 Mr Sarkisian was voted as a 1st Team All American at linebacker and 2nd Team All-American at center per the National Football Foundation. His fine play earned him a place in the College Football Hall of Fame in the 1998 induction class. After his playing eligibility was over Sarkisian stayed on at Northwestern as an assistant coach and then after getting his Masters Degree from the University he went on to teach and coach at the high school level.  

For more stats on football people born on July 13th 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.