June 11

In this episode we discuss how awards are handed out, as a top NFL QB, a big name coach and a "Big Dog" celebrate and FM broadcasts fill the airwaves. 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.

Buried in the back pages in a small column of the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania comes our Football History Headline of the day. Except there is reall no headline on the June 25, 1935 article, but it is vitally important all the same in reporting an event from two weeks earlier on June 11, 1935 when Inventor Major Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey. The article tells us that the Major was a famous wireless expert and had evolved a new short wave method of avoiding static and sundry electrical interferences with radio. He promised a radio revolution and he could now devote himself to avoiding the continuous chimings of the dumb-bells on the airwaves. He wasn't far off in his new invention as FM radio even to this day is still the media broadcast of choice for many to listen to football games at all levels. 

June 11, 1978 - New Orleans Quarterback Archie Manning won the NFL's Byron (Whizzer) White Award for his fine contributions to team, community & country. In 2018 the NFL renamed the prestigious honor the NFLPA Alan Page Community Award.

June 11, 2005 - NFL Europe's World Bowl XIII is won by the Amsterdam Admirals over the Berlin Thunder in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was a close game as the Admiral won by the score of 27-21. The game's MVP was Admirals QB Kurt Kittner who threw two earlier touchdown passes only to see Berlin fight their way back into the game according top Wikipedia.

Here are the bios on some birthday boys that are either in the College Football Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame that were born on this day. There is plenty more about them to read by either clicking their high-lighted name or at the top of this page clicking the "On This Day in Football History" and going to June 11 Football History.

June 11, 1892 - Franklin, Tennessee - Vanderbilt’s two-way tackle from 1914 to 1916 and again in 1919,  Josh Cody celebrated his date of birth. Just before World War I Vanderbilt was the shining star of the gridiron in the south. The NFF fills us in that Josh was the premier lineman on College Football Hall of Fame Coach Dan McGugin’s scoring machine that was one of the most potent offensive units in football.  Cody was a sure tackler and great aggressive blocker who helped the Commodores score 1099 points in 35 games over his four-season varsity career. Cody was an All-Southern. honoree in three of those four seasons and was a Three-Time All-American. World War I interrupted Josh's collegiate football career, but he returned to capture All- Southern laurels once again in 1919. Josh Cody was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970 after the National Football Foundation tabulated up their votes. Even after graduation, Cody could not get enough football as he then entered coaching and directed teams at Clemson, Mercer, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Temple and also serve as an Athletic Director. https://footballfoundation.org/hof_search.aspx?hof=1326 

June 11, 1902 - Willow River, Minnesota - Ernie "Big Dog" Nevers was Stanford University’s fullback from 1923 to 1925. Ernie Nevers received the great honor of being selected for inclusion into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined the Big Dog Ernie Nevers in 1963.    

June 11, 1913 - Brooklyn, New York - Vince Lombardi is a Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee and NFL coach of the Green Bay Packers as well as a former NFL executive. Vince Lombardi was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, a year after he died of cancer at the age of 57.

June 11, 1924 - Jackson, Mississippi - Doug Kenna was a quarterback from the US Army's West Point Academy from 1942 to 1944 who earned his way into the College Football hall of Fame in 1984. He started his career at Ole Miss but after his freshman season, Kenna received an appointment to the Military Academy and played out his final 3 seasons of eligibility for Army. In 1944 he helped lead the Black Knights to the National Championship after an undefeated season per the National Football Foundation.

June 11, 1930 - Fort Wayne, Indiana - Johnny Bright was the Drake University single-wing halfback from 1949 to 1951 that earned his way into the College Football Hall of Fame. The FootballFoundation.org says that in 3 seasons as he accounted for 5903 yards. Johnny led the nation in total offense 1949 and 1950. In 1951, his senior year, he suffered a broken jaw while playing against Oklahoma A&M. He came back two weeks later in a triumphant return, running for one touchdown and passing for two, in a victory over Great Lakes Naval Station. Bright was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL but opted for the Canadian League.  Johnny  got his CFL start with Calgary in 1952 but later moved on to the Edmonton Eskimos in 1954 and played there through the 1964 season. When he retired, Bright held the Canadian League record for career yards rushing - 10,768. 

June 11, 1956 - Joe Montana  is a Pro Football Hall of Fame retired NFL Quarterback that played for the San Francisco 49ers &  the Kansas City Chiefs. 

For more stats on football people born on June 11th 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.

The picture in the banner above is from the 1921 Spalding Football Rules Book and demonstrates proper line play. Can't you feel the history in a great artistic drawing like this?