March 23

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss The WLAF's first day of games as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 23, 1991 - 1st World League of American Football games commenced with three opening day games. The London Monarchs, who eventually were champs in the League's inaugural season, ruled the Frankfurt Galaxy team coached by John Elway's father Jack 24-11. The Sacramento Surge overcame the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks coached by Roman Gabriel 9-3. And according to the Stats Crew website finally the  Montreal Machine extinguished the Birmingham Fire team coached by Chan Gailey 20-5.  

March 23, 1886 - Hales Mill, Virginia - Nathan Dougherty the great University of Tennessee guard from 1906 till 1909's season arrived into the world. Nathan was a man of considerable size in that era as he stood 6'-2" tall and weighed in at 185 pounds according to his bio posted on the FootballFoundation.org site therefore his peers referred to him as "Big'n." Dougherty was a pretty smart players tow as he graduated Tennessee with honors and even earned a couple of additional degrees when he later educated others at both Cornell and George Washington Universities. The College Football Hall of Fame gathered the data and stats of Nathan Dougherty to set in a place of honor in their museum in 1967.

March 23, 1923 - Rhein, Saskatchewan - The speedy giant of pro football, Defensive Tackle, Arnie Weinmeister was born. The Pro Football Hall of Fame's bio on Arnie starts off by saying that Weinmeister captivated the crowds of the All American Football Conference and National Football League by his dominating performances in the Big Apple playing for the AAFC's New York Yankees and later the New York Giants of the NFL. He was quick off of the snap and would give fits for opposing blockers assigned to nullify him during plays. Arnie won second-team All-AAFC as a rookie followed by first-team All-AAFC honors in 1949 and then was a unanimous All-NFL choice all four years with the Giants. He also was selected to play in the NFL's Pro Bowl each of the first four years in the NFL.  Arnie Weinmeister in 1984 was enshrined by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Horydczak, Theodor circa 1920 and is titled "Globe of Asia ."