July 15

Here is what happened in Football History for July 15: Another Olympic Gold medal performance for Jim Thorpe; The Gipper fills in another player's shoes, as well as legendary Hollywood Gridiron scenes, while we celebrate the birthdays of Alex Karras and John Stallworth! 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 the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection circa 1912 and is titled "Jim Thorpe greeted by Mayor Gaynor (third from left) and other dignitaries in Olympic ceremony at City Hall ."

• July 15, 1912 - Jim Thorpe wins the Olympic Gold Medal for the Decathalon  in Stockholm by placing in the top 4 of each of all 10 events. This set an Olympic record for points earned in a Decathalon. Thorpe was stripped of this medal in the following year due to him playing professional baseball but in 1982 the Olympic Committee returned the honor of Gold back to Thorpe. For much more on the life of Jim Thorpe please listen to the Truly the GOATs podcast episode 2 and read this great article on the awesome athlete on the Sports History Network.
• July 15, 2005 - The movie "The Wedding Crashers" starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson debuted in theaters. Who could ever forget the great backyard football sequence where Vaughn's character is knocked around by Bradley Cooper's character in the movie.

If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like The Chicago Tribune, 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 15, 2022 - The International Olympic Committee announced that it was fully reinstating Jim Thorpe as the sole Gold Medal winner in two events that were stripped of him in 1913 from the 1912 Olympics, for allegedly playing baseball in 1910 and getting paid a housing /food expense.

• July 15, 1892 - Ray Eichenlaub was an All-American Fullback for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame University was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972. The National Football Foundation celebrates this great player recanting a very interesting story that is connected with him. It all started when Notre Dame assistant football coach Knute Rockne was walking across the South Bend campus one fall afternoon in 1917 and came upon a young freshman named George Gipp. Rockne had been urging Gipp to come out for football. "I've got just the pair of cleats for you," the Rock told Gipp. "A special pair?" the young man wanted to know. "Yea," said Rockne, "they belonged to Ray Eichenlaub." " Who is he?" Gipp asked. "Around these parts he was known as a real Notre Dame man," Rockne replied. Of course, "The Gipper" went on to become a Notre Dame legend, something Eichenlaub had already done. Rockne had played end on the teams with "Iron Eich" and he knew the big fullback well. He went on to play in the NFL in the 1925 season with the Columbus Tigers.
• July 15, 1935 - Alex Karras is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Defensive Tackle for the Detroit Lions. The 3 Time All-Pro made the Pro Bowl four times in his career. Mr. Karras is a proud alumni of Iowa University and his prowess there sealed a placement for him in the College Football Hall of Fame in the class of 1991. After football Alex Karras was a wrestler, a broadcaster and also could be seen on television in particularly when he starred on the sitcom "Webster" and on the big screen he played Mongo on the comedy "Blazing Saddles."
• July 15, 1952 - John Stallworth is a Pro Football Hall of Fame Wide Receiver that played his entire NFL career for the Pittburgh Steelers. 

Remembering the football events that happened on July 15 through out history One day at a time on Pigskin Dispatch!