June 21

In this episode we discuss how Bo Jackson rejected the Bucs offer and we remember Hall of Fame players on their date of birth like Al Wilson, Jeff Bentrim, Mike McCormack and Bob Gain! 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.

The picture in the banner above is One of our specially designed Pigskin Dispatch logo icons! We fly our banner under the winking Pig but hey in the Pig Pen we also love football history from all eras, the innovators and inventions of the game and the great people that make is so special. So you have to have some logos to represent that too right?

Yeah we know its the first day of summer, summer soltice blah, blah, blah... Remember Every day can be Football Season!

The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day cames from the June 22, 1986 Tampa Tribune in Tampa, Florida where they listed a headline of:

Bucs strike out on Jackson

This refers to the June 21, 1986 announcement by Bo Jackson who had recently won the 1985 Heismann Trophy, had rejected a Buccaneers offer of $7 million to sign a 3 year baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals. If you remember back on our April 29 edition of the Football History Headlines covering the 1986 NFL Draft, we posted that according to a story in the Orlando Sentinel the Bucs took a big chance with their pick of Jackson because Bo warned team officials he would not play for owner Hugh Culverhouse. Apparently Culverhouse, the Bucs owner, sent his private jet to pick up the reigning Heisman Trophy winner for a physical and a visit. Jackson was soon ruled ineligible to play baseball for Auburn because Tampa Bay had failed to check on NCAA and SEC rules, despite assuring Jackson otherwise. Jackson held true to his word and turned down approximately $7 million with Tampa to play with the MLB’s Kansas City Royals for $1.6 million. After waiting a year the Buccaneers lost all rights to Jackson and he became eligible for the 1987 NFL Draft and the Raiders took a flyer on him in the 7th round of the 87 draft and Bo ended up playing for the Black and Silver."Bo knows" both sports very well as he is the only athlete in history to be an All-star in two different professional sports.

• June 21, 1929 - Akron, Ohio - Bob Gain was an Offensive Tackle/Guard that played for the University of Kentucky and was selected to enter the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980. After graduation Mr. Gain played professionally for the Cleveland Browns and in the CFL with the Ottawa Rough Riders. The Professional Football Researchers Association in 2010 selected him to their Hall of the Very Good.
• June 21, 1930- Mike McCormack Pro Football Hall of Fame Offensive Tackle and Defensive lineman that played for the New York Yanks for a season and then the balance of his career with the Cleveland Browns. The stalwart from Kansas University was selected to the Pro Bowl 6 times in his pro career.
• June 21, 1965 - St. Paul, Minnesota - Jeff Bentrim the North Dakota State quarterback from 1983 to 1986 was born. According to the FootballFoundation.org, Jeff set records that no other quarterback has touched. He was the starting quarterback in four championship games in NCAA Division II. He was the national scoring champ in Division II in 1984, 1985, and 1986. He scored 386 points in his career.  North Dakota State was 47-5-1 in Bentrim's four years and was 11-1 in playoff games, all of which he started. In the regular season Bentrim rushed for 64 touchdowns and passed for 24. Those 64 rushing TDs are a record for regular season NCAA games, breaking the record of 63 held by Walter Payton of Jackson State. In postseason action he rushed for  another 17 touchdowns and passed for five. In 1986 he was named All-America and won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the best player in Division II. Jeff Bentrim’s collegiate football records are celebrated in the College Football Hall of Fame after his induction in 1998.
• June 21, 1977 - Jackson, Tennessee - Al Wilson the great linebacker from the University of Tennessee was born. Al Wilson capped his career as one of the Vols' greatest linebackers by leading them to the 1998 national championship per the NFF. A consensus First Team All-America in 1998, Wilson was the only All-America selection from the perfect 13-0 Vols squad that won the inaugural BCS National Championship at the Fiesta Bowl against Florida State. He also guided Tennessee to three other bowl games, including consecutive wins at the Citrus Bowl in 1996 and 1997. The National Football Foundation inducted Al Wilson into their College Football Hall  of Fame in 2021. Al was a first-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 1999 NFL Draft. Wilson was a five-time Pro Bowl selection while playing for the team for the seasons of 1999 all the way through 2006.