July 14

In this edition, we discuss an early meeting in Canton that set the stage for organizing pro football. The USFL has its Grand Finale on this date, and color television is broadcast for another first. We will provide you with 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 is from AT&T Stadium and their great Cotton Bowl display of an Alabama helmet.

Our Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the day is from the Akron-Beacon on July 15, 1919 with their headline of:

McGinnis Joins with Indians: One Professional Football Team will be put in field in Akron

The article states that 6 cities were represented at a meeting of professional footballers in Canton, Ohio. Cleveland, Youngstown, Massillon, Columbus, Akron and Canton were all represented and intentions of participation were sent by teams from Toledo and Dayton who were unable to attend the Monday evening meeting. A second meeting scheduled for Wednesday July 16 in Akron would be for scheduling games in the Ohio League. The article says this would be the first time that teams would play under scheduled games and that the winner of the Ohio League would be crowned World Champions.

Author Chris Willis in his book The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr contends that the second meeting scheduled for Wednesday July 16 never occurred as after football had been interrupted due to World War I for a couple of seasons the teams were just happy to be playing again. The teams that were represented at this football meeting in Canton at the Courtland Hotel were the new owner of the Canton Bulldogs, auto dealer Ralph Hay, Mac Maginnis of the Akron Pros, Jack Donahue and Jack Whalen of the Massillon Tigers, Joe Dunn of the Minneapolis Marines, Walter H. Flanigan of the Rock Island Independents, Curly Lambeau of Green Bay, Hammond All-Stars and of course Joe Carr as the envoy of the Columbus Panhandles among others according to Chris Willis. The meeting was originally intended to garner interest in starting an official pro circuit league but when teams could not even agree on the principles of salary restrictions the meeting adjourned and they all went their separate ways scheduling teams that they could, independent from each other. Though on the surface this meeting appeared to be a flop in organizing a formal league, it set the stage for the beginnings of the American Professional Football Association that would organize one year later. Yes, part of that being the September 17, 1920 meeting in Hay’s Hupmobile Showroom. For more on how to get a copy of Chris Willis' great book on Joe Carr click here.

• July 14, 1951 - A horse race, the Hollywood Gold Cup, on CBS became the very first color television transmission of a sporting event. It wouldn't be long before the wonderful technicolors of the gridiron would light up the boxes in living rooms around the country.

• July 14, 1985 - The last game for the start up USFL was played in exciting fashion as the Balltimore Stars defeated the Oakland Invaders by the score of 28-24 in the League’s Championship game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey according to the News in Patterson, New Jersey. Quarterback Bobby Hebert had a solid game for the Invaders and the thought was that many NFL suitors would be clamoring for his services.
• July 14, 2020 - The Cleveland Browns ink Miles Garrett to a 5 year $125 million contract extension that will keep the prolific pass rusher in Cleveland until he reaches 30 years old.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like The News as well as the Akron Beacon, 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 14, 1911 - Carrollton, Mississippi - Riley Smith is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame as a quarterback out of the University or Alabama.  In the late 1930's Mr. Riley served as the QB for the Washington Redskins in the NFL. He later became the head coach at Washington and Lee University for their football program.
• July 14, 1922 - Honolulu, Hawaii - Robert Olds played tackle on both the Offense and the Defense for Army in the 1940's. His stellar play gave him entrance into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1985. His play in 1942 eanred him " Player of the Year" by Grantland Rice and "Lineman of the Year" in Collier's Weekly magazine. per the National Football Foundation, Mr. Olds famously returned to a game with a cheering crowd after earlier losing multiple teeth while making a tackle in the Army-Navy game of 1942.
• July 14, 1928 - Hamlin, Texas - Brad Rowland was a halfback out of McMurry University in Abilene, Texas that was selected to enter the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 according to the National Football Foundation. He was voted as an All-American player twice in his college career. After graduation Mr. Rowland played for the Chicago Bears.
• July 14, 1971 -  Mount Gilead, Ohio - Bill Royce is a fomer college defensive End from Ashland University who was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016 per the National Football Foundation. Mr Royce set an NCAA record during his college career with 71 sacks.