March 5

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss the players that did so much for their teams and celebrate birthdays on this March 5 as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 5, 1918 - St Louis, Missouri - The awesome Mizzou Halfback Paul Christman celebrated his day of birth. Learn more about his by clicking his name.

March 5, 1921 - Lancaster, Wisconsin - Dave Schreiner the University of Wisconsin end in early 1940s, was born. Schreiner was a perfectionist and really pushed himself in the offseason to sharpen his skill set and improve. He had everyone he knew tossing passes to him in all types of crazy ways so  that he had the confidence that he could catch anything thrown at him. Dave is one of a handful of players that made All-America status on a bad team as he did this in 1941 when the Badgers were a mere 3-5 according to the National Football Foundation. The College Football Hall of Fame celebrated the induction of Dave Schreiner to their fine museum of gridiron legends in 1955. 

March 5, 1922 - Corning, Iowa - The stellar University of Pennsylvania halfback of the 1941 through the 1943 seasons, Bob Odell was born. The FootballFoundation.org website claims that Bob did it all for Penn as he not only ran and caught balls out of the backfield but he also punted, passed and returned kicks and punts. The talented back even made it as far as being the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in in 1943 losing out to Angelo Bertelli, but he did win the Maxwell Award and was an All-American in all four major selection groups. The NFF voters honored the name of Bob Odell at the 1992 College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

March 5, 1960 - Scranton, Pennsylvania - Mike Munchak the stellar offensive lineman from Penn State University had his born on date assigned. The Pro Football HOF website states that Munchak was the eight overall player taken in the 1982 NFL Draft when he was picked by the Houston Oilers. He had a phenomenal 12 year NFL career in light blue starting even in his rookie season.  He was a first or second All-NFL selection in ten different seasons and he helped the Oiler’s O-line rank near the top of the League in most statistics nearly every season he played. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Mike Munchak in 2001.  

March 5, 1966 - The “Playmaker” Michael Irvin who caught passes as a wide receiver for the Miami Hurricanes in the mid 1980s arrived into this world. Michael was the first round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1988 NFL Draft. The Pro Football Hall of Fame tells us how Irvin led the LEague in 1991 with his 93 caught balls and 1532 yards. Later in 1995 he established an NFL record when he sliced together eleven straight games where he went over 100 yards in receptions. He really made a nice career in his 12 NFL seasons with the ‘Boys as he hauled in a total of 750 passes for 11904 yards and 65 scores. The Pro Football Hall of Fame placed Michael Irvin’s bronze bust in their Canton, Ohio Museum in 2007.

March 5, 1970 - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - The nifty Marshall Quarterback from 1990 to 1992, Michael Payton was born. Payton was voted as a consensus All-American in his senior season and the Marshall Thundering Herd took home the Division I-AA National Crown. Michael Payton also had a very high honor bestowed upon him in that magical 1992 season when the Walter Payton Award for the top player in Division I-AA was his honor. Michael Payton was given the great honor of having his collegiate gridiron legacy placed into the College Football hall of Fame in 2015. The NFF states that After spending part of 1993 with the Dallas Cowboys, Payton played two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League before finishing his career with the Florida Bobcats of the Arena Football League in 1996.

We love old gridiron photos so in this edition the picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by the Bain News Service circa 1908 and is titled " The Princeton Team 1908 ."