March 11

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss Nagurski in the ring and Stagg battling on the court as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 11, 1892 - The first public basketball game was played between the students and the faculty of Springfield College in Massachusetts. Basketball’s inventor, James Naismith taught at the school and also on staff was Amos Alonzo Stagg. The headline from the local newspaper the next day displayed on the Forums realgm reads “Basket Football Game.” The article says over 200 fans watched the contest where the students prevailed by the score of 5-1. That one bucket by the faculty was made by our football hero Coach Stagg according to author Jennifer Taylor Hall in he book Amos Alonzo Stagg; Football's Man in Motion. The author goes on to say that in the hoops game, Coach Stagg fouled every single one of the student players! It may have truly been a Basket Football Game!

March 11, 1941 - Bronko Nagurski defeated Ray Steele in Minnesota, to become the National Wrestling Champion. Steele stripped Nagurski of the Wrestling Title on March 7, 1940 so in this victory Bronko took the belt back from Steele per the Legacyofwrestling.com. We have learned much about Bronko as a football player from his birthday post on our November 3 blog but many don’t realize that he was quite successful at wrestling as well. According to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s website Nagurski as a member of the Chicago Bears in the late 1930’s approached six-time World Champion Wrestler Lou Thesz about grappling in the football offseason. Bronko attracted large crowds and even gained the World NWA Title on several occasions in the years before World War II. Bronko Nagurski became a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009 to add to his enshrinements of the College and Pro Football Hall of Fames.  

March 11, 1986 - NFL adopts instant replay rule according to an article on Sound Vision. The adoption was by no means what we are used to today as it was experimental and very limited. That first season there was only 374 total plays or an average of 1.6 per game with only 10% being overturned from what was called on the field. This version was dropped by an owners vote in 1992 when a majority 17 teams were against continuing the practice.The debate over instant replay continued and a new system was approved for testing in 1996. In 1999, NFL owners voted 28-3 to reinstate instant replay using the new and improved system which included coaches challenges. The article goes on to say that the NFL’s earliest experiments with instant replay date back to 1976, which led to tests being conducted on a wider scale in 1978, starting with the Hall of Fame game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins.

March 11, 1893 - Nashville, Tennessee - Colgate University Quarterback from the 1910 to 1913 era, Ellery Huntington Jr. was born. Check out more on this gridiron legend by clicking his name.

March 11, 1941 - Florence, Arizona - Rex Mirich the great defensive tackle from 1960 through the 1963 season for Northern Arizona arrived into life. 

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer F.J. Rentschler circa 1901 and is titled " Stagg Watching Famous Whoa Back Play ."