June 16

Here is what happened in football history for June 16: An event in that happened to Jim Thorpe and his Career that Haunted Him Took Place & Iconic Football Advertisers Incorporate. These items are most certainly remembered on this day in football history! 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.

June 16, 1903 -The Ford Motor Company under Henry Ford incorporates its business. The Ford Motor Company has been a long time sponsor of the NFL and the Ford Family has been the long time owners of the Detroit Lions.

June 16, 1903 - The Pepsi Cola Company is formed. Pepsi has been the Official Soft Drink of the NFL since 2002. Let's see if you can remember some of these famous Pepsi Super Bowl commercials courtesy of Mashed.com:

Michael Jackson, Pepsi Generation, 1984
Spice Girls, Move Over (Generation Next), 1997.
Shakira, The Joy of Pepsi, 2003. ...
Mariah Carey, Time of Your Life, 2006. ...
One Direction with Drew Brees, Live For Now, 2012. ...
Hank Williams, Security Camera, 1996. ...
Robert Palmer, Simply Irresistible, 1989
Michael J. Fox, New Neighbors, 1987
Brittany Spears, Joy of Pepsi, 2001

Our Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day was from the June 17, 1909 edition of the Charlotte News in Charlotte, North Carolina when they had a small headline of : 

Rocky Mount 4, Raleigh 2

This article talking about a very significant event that occurred on June 16, 1909 as future Pro Football Hall of Fame player and all around exceptional athlete Jim Thorpe made his professional baseball pitching debut in the ECL for Rocky Mount. His team won 4-2 and the artcile shows that he was the starting battery for Rocky Mount along with his catcher, a guy with the last name of Walch. The game is not so much significant because of his debut on the pro diamond but rather because this very game and a few others played shortly after it is what the Olympic Committee looked at when they stripped Thorpe's Gold medals from the 1912 Olympic Games where Thorpe won the decathlon and the pentathlon by wide margins at the Games in Stockholm. In 1913 an investigation by the Amateur Athletic Union showed that Mr. Thorpe had played semiprofessional baseball in 1909 and 1910, which should have disqualified him from Olympic competition. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, In 1973 the Amateur Athletic Union restored his amateur status, but the International Olympic Committee did not recognize his amateur status until 1982. Thorpe was subsequently restored as a “cowinner” of the decathlon and pentathlon of the 1912 Olympic Games (along with the second-place finishers in those events). His Olympic gold medals were restored to his family in 1983. 

June 16, 1949 - Larry Brown 4 time Super Bowl Champion Tackle and Tight End that played for the Pittsburgh Steelers for 14 seasons and earned a Pro Bowl spot in 1982. Brown played college football at Kansas University.

June 16, 1982 - Jerricho Cotchery is an North Carolina State alumni and former NFL WR that played for the NY Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Carolina Panthers during a very productive 12 year professional career.

For more stats on football people born on June 16th 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 US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by Carol M. Highsmith circa 2011 and is titled " Pepsi sign, located at Meeker's Hardware store in Danbury, Connecticut ."