June 25

Here is what happened on June 25 in football history: the birth anniversary of a lady important to NFL broadcasting; the World Football is on Fire; Grambling launches a Tank; and remembering Hall of Fame greats on their date of birth!  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 from the US Library of Congress' from photgrapher Horydczak, Theodor, from circa 1948 and is titled " Griffith Consumers Co. Exterior of Dumont Television, 12th St. 

Also below is a November 25, 1922 of a couple of top players that would play in a local high school game and is titled Image of The Topeka state journal (Topeka, Kan.) ."

The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the Day is from the June 26, 1951 St. Louis Post-Dispatch when they printed this headline:

Godfrey in Color Television Debut

Yes on June 25, 1951 the first Color Television broadcast took place from New York City by CBS to 4 other cities of the Arthur Godfrey Show. CBS sold commercial airtime at $1000 per minute, an almost laughable price now but at the time it was expensive! Yet seven sponsors paid the price and advertised their wares to the audience estimated at over 40,000. Color TV's would not be available for months for the public to buy but there were about 1000 home-built of home-converted sets in New York City alone. Columbia Braodcasting's system of color television became the accepted one after CBS won in a court dipsute over RCA-Victor.  Where would we be with out color TV for football games? 

• June 25, 2000 - The Rhein Fire of NFL Europe won their 2nd World Bowl Championship in three years. The League's inaugral season was in 1991 and it lasted through the 2007 season when the NFL dissolved it.
• June 25, 2020 - The NFL announced that the 2020 Hall of Fame game which would match the Steelers and the Cowboys in a pre-season would be postponed unto 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns. Likewise the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony would also be post poned until the summer of 2021.

• June 25, 1928 - Grambling, Louisiana -  The stork visited the Younger home on this day as Paul "Tank" Younger the great Grambling fullback/linebacker from 1945 to 1948 arrived on the scene. The National Football Foundation has a great bio on Paul where they say this legend started out as a tackle but the wise old coach Eddie Robinson recognized that this player’s athleticism would best be suited as a playmaker. Younger earned the nickname "Tank" by running over everything that got in front of him. Tank was the Tiger's leader on offense and defense. As a freshman, he led the nation in scoring with 25 touchdowns, scoring many times on end-around plays. In his junior year, he rushed for 1,207 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. Younger also completed 43 of 73 pass attempts, 11 for touchdowns. His career totals show 60 touchdowns, which at the time was a collegiate record. After his senior season, he was named black college football's Player of the Year.  Paul Younger’s collegiate football records are celebrated in the College Football Hall of Fame after his induction in 2000. The talent of this great player did not stop when he finished college. Tank played in the NFL for the LA Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers earning a trip to the Pro Bowl five different seasons during his pro career. When he hung up his cleats he became the National Football League’s first African-American Assistant General Manager.  
• June 25, 1964 - Norristown, Pennsylvania - Boston College’s defensive tackle from 1982 to 1985, Mike Ruth was born. The NFF informs us that Ruth was an Outland Trophy winner in 1985 and he also was a consensus First Team All-American as a senior. Mike led the Eagles to three bowl games, including a win in the 1985 Cotton Bowl against Houston. Boston College would finish the 1984 season in stellar fashion as they were ranked fifth nationally in the polls. Ruth amassed 344 career tackles, 29 sacks, seven forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries during his remarkable career. In 1986, he received Boston College’s highest athletic honor when he was named Eagle of the Year. Mike Ruth was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017 after the National Football Foundation tabulated up their votes. The big defensive tackle was drafted in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots and spent two seasons with the franchise. He also spent two seasons with the Barcelona Dragons in the World League of American Football.

June 25, 1949 - Phyllis George broke the barrier in sports journalism by becoming the first woman to co-anchor the NFL Today on CBS. For more on this great lady of the gridiron airwaves, please take a moment to read our Phyllis George special post.

For more stats on football people born on June 25th 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.