June 2

In this episode we discuss some inventions and innovators that propelled the game of football to new heights as well as provide you with a little bit of football nostalgia on some HOF birthday boys. 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.

Sound Broadcast

June 2, 1875 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first sound transmission. Though he didn't patent the telephone until March 7, 1876 and didn't ask Watson to "come here" until March 10, 1876 this day in 1875 was a milestone. Think of it in today's world sound is transmitted every where around us! In the realm of football we see and hear sound transmissions on TV, radio, the internet, stadium PA systems and even in NFL helmets. The game definitely would not be the same without this great accomplishment.

June 2, 1896 - In a somewhat related event Guglielmo Marconi applied for the US Patent of the radio on this day. His Patent was granted on July 2, 1897 in a fierce race with others to be the first to get the famous patent. Radio too  as discussed above has had major bonuses for the game of football.

June 2, 1945 - Legendary super athlete, Jim Thorpe married wife Patrica Askew on this date. Askew was Thorpe's second wife and she remained at his side until his passing in 1953. The great athlete was previously married to Iva Miller for 15 years and they had four children together but divorced in 1941. 

June 2, 1992 - Former New York Giants Head Coach Bill Parcells underwent open heart surgery.

June 2, 2020 - The NFL announces that all teams will be required to run training camps at their home facility and not travel to alternate locations due to COVID-19 precautions and player/community safety.

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. 

June 2, 1895 - Piffard, New York - Homer “Pop” Hazel, an end and fullback out of Rutgers University in 1916 and in 1923 and 1924 was born. Homer secured a place in the College Football Hall of Fame when he was inducted into the gridiron museum in 1951. Homer later served as Athletic Director as well as the football and basketball coach at the University of Mississippi for five years. Then even was a golf pro for four years.  

June 2, 1920 - Tex Schramm the president and General Manager of the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1989 was born. Tex guided the Cowboys from a start up franchise in the League all the way to Super Bowl Championships. Under his guidance the Cowboys enjoyed 20 consecutive winning seasons and was instrumental in the AFL/NFL merger of the late 1960’s. The Pro Football Hall of Fame website tells us that Schramm was the NFL Competition Committee Chairman from 1966 through 1988 and was an integral part of the NFL instituting six divisions and even the Wild Card Playoff concept. He also was a proponent of extra field markings, instant replay and rules to enhance offensive scoring. Tex Schramm was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

June 2, 1950 - Jeff Siemon was an 4 time Pro Bowl NFL linebacker for the Vikings for his 11 year career.  He attended and played football at Stanford University from 1969 to 1971 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. The National Football Foundation shares that Siemon made 15 critical tackles in the 1971 Rose Bowl game that helped the Cardinal upend heavily favored Ohio State 27-17, preventing the Buckeyes from claiming the National Championship. The very next year he led Stanford to the Rose Bowl once again and theis time they upset Michigan by 12 points. After his brilliant NFL career Jeff in his post football life has been active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and other Christian endeavors.

1944- Garo Yepremian was an NFL Kicker that was a 2 time All Pro, made two Pro Bowls and was on the winning Super Bowl team 2 times in his career that spanned from 1966 through the 1981 season. Yepremian played for Detroit, Miami, New Orleans and Tampa Bay in his pro career. Garo immigrated from Cyprus and attended Indiana University on a soccer scholarship. He was not eligible to play NCAA football because he had played professional soccer in London before he moved to the US. His kicking of a ball in soccer easily translated to football in the NFL.

For more stats on football people born on June 2nd 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 U.S. Copyright Office circa 1922 and is titled " Guglielmo Marconi, 1874-1937 ." The photo shows Marconi standing with Alfred N. Goldsmith, facing left; with not  a radio but possibly with telegraph equipment on the table.

We also are able to enjoy another great U.S. Library of Congress picture which is of another great inventor in our headlines and the photo is titled: Telephone a nuisance - radio a joy to Alexander Graham Bell which somewhat pays tribute to Marconi's invention. The photo is circa 1922 and was taken by photographers Underwood and Underwood.