July 28

In this edition of the Football History Headlines, we discuss the entry into the NFL of franchises from Duluth and St. Louis as well as the League splitting into two divisions and celebrating many birthdays more Hall of Fame Legends.

Our friend Bob Hyldburg, a very passionate historian and collector of Boston/New England Patriots items has graciously shared an image of a ticket from July 28, 1973 where the Ptriots partook in the Canton hall of Fame Game exhibition. Great history in your Collection Mr. H!, it is a cool piece of history for July 28. Thanks Bob!

Here is a clip Bob found on this day in 1965 as the Jets knocked off the Patriots:

• July 28, 1923 - Duluth Kelleys/Eskimos franchise forms and plays in the League from 1923 through 1927 .
• July 28, 1923 - St. Louis All-Stars franchise is recognized by the NFL and plays just in the 1923 season in the League. 
• July 28, 1929 - According to author Scott Adamson the Chicago Cardinals became the first NFL team to train out of state, holding camp in Michigan.
• July 28, 1929 - According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the NFL announced that they would be adding a fourth official to the field during scheduled regular season games.
• July 28, 1933 - The NFL divided into two divisions for the first time per Yahoo.com. Prior to that the team with the best overall record would be declared the League Champions. This caused issues that got sticky on more than one occasion. The year prior though in 1932 the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans were neck and neck in the standings each finished the regular season with identical .857 winning percentages.  George Halas wanted no part of a shared title so he challenged the Spartans to a final game in Chicago that would settle the score. The winner would be champs and the loser would fall to third place behind Green Bay. The game was moved in doors to a modified field size and the Bears won of course in controversial fashion over Portsmouth who was missing their star player and quarterback Dutch Clark. The Bears won 9-0. The new Eastern Division consisted of the Boston Redskins, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Western Division consisted of the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Green Bay Packers, and Portsmouth Spartans. 
• July 28, 1972 - At the Chicago College All-Star game played at Soldier Field, the Dallas Cowboys, the defending Super Bowl Champs, knocked down the college upstarts 20-7 before a crowd of 54,162. The MVP award, always given to the college player team, happened to be Pat Sullivan the quarterback from Auburn University.
• July 28, 1995 - Art Modell sends representatives to secretly talk with those in Baltimore about moving his then Cleveland Browns franchise to the Maryland city.

• July 28, 1893 - John O'Hearn was an end from Cornell University and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He went on to play in the NFL in 1920 with the Cleveland Tigers and he spent the 1921 season with the Buffalo All-Americans. John's brother Ed played for Buffalo that season of 1921 as well.
• July 28, 1943 - Larry Elkins was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994 as a WR out of Baylor University. Larry held many of the top receiving records at Baylor. In 1963 he had 70 receptions and in 1962 he returned a punt 92 yards for a score. In 1965 Mr. Elkins was the first round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers as well as the 2nd overall draft pick of the AFL's Houston Oilers, just after the Jets picked Joe Namath. He ended up accepting the offer from the Oilers and spent four seasons there. Injuries plagued his pro career as he joined the NFL's Steelers in 1969, earned the starting job and then  broke his collar bone in a pre-season game.
• July 28, 1957 - Charles Alexander was a halfback out of LSU. In 2012 the College Football Hall of Fame inducted him into their ranks.

• July 28, 1978 - Hillcrest Heights, Maryland - Linebacker Julian Peterson from Michigan State form 1998 through 1999 was born. Julian was selected as the 16th overall player taken by San Francisco 49ers in 2000 NFL Draft. He also played for the Seahawks and Lions during his NFL career per Yahoo.com. Julian played in 5 Pro Bowls and earned All-Pro honors three times in this tenure in the League. For his career Peterson had 802 combined tackles with 595 of them being of the solo variety, 51.5 sacks, 8 interceptions, 53 passes defended and 1 defensive touchdown.
• July 28, 1988 - Millington, Tennessee - Defensive end Greg Hardy who played at  Mississippi from 2006 through the 2009season was born.  According to an article on Yahoo.com Hardy was selected asthe 175th overall pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2010 NFL Draft. He also played for the Dallas Cowboys. Greg's career stats include 241 total tackles with 165 of them being solo, 40 sacks, one pickand eight forced fumbles. Hardy was a Pro Bowl selection and a Second-team All-Pro in 2013. He set a Panthers franchise record for most sacks in a season in 2013 with 15.

If you are interested in the uniforms worn by the pro players of football throughout the years we invite to please visit our friends at the Gridiron Uniform Database at this link GUD . 

For more stats on football people born on July 28th 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.

July 28 has a special corresponding YouTube video for your enjoyment!

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Gordon Parks circa 1943 and is titled Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. 'Dusty' Jennings, star kicker on Bethune-Cookman's champion football team