May 23

In this episode we learn all about a start up Pro team in Ohio and their legendary coach/owner as well as a collegiate player that was part of a remarkable team! 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.

Football history enthusiasts, delve into the gridiron's past! On this very date, history unfolded on the field in several ways. We might be celebrating a record-breaking performance by a legendary player, a trade that sent shockwaves through the league, or even the birth of a new franchise that would leave its mark on the game. Let's lace up our cleats and travel back in time to see what iconic moments transpired on this date in American football history!

May 23, 1967  - The Cincinnati Bengals franchise forms in the AFL. The team was founded by former Cleveland Browns head coach the legendary Paul Brown. Coach Brown had been the Cleveland franchises only head coach since their inception in the All American Football Conference in 1946. He had led them to all four AAFC titles and then after the league folded  his team was one of three merged into the NFL, he guided the Browns to three NFL Championships as well. In 1962 businessman, Art Modell purchased the Cleveland Browns franchise and abruptly fired paul Brown. Coach Brown started then looking for a way to place a second football franchise in the state of Ohio, and the emergence of the AFL had given him and the rest of his group the vehicle to do so. Paul Brown was the head coach of this new franchise from it's inception all the way until 1975, when he was still owner of the team but retired from his coaching duties, when the Bengals were in the NFL. The Bengals franchise has seen some highs and lows. The high points were probably their winning the AFC Championship game twice in the 1980's but lost to a powerful San Francisco 49ers squad twice in both Super Bowls XVI and XXIII. The Pro Football Hall of Fame declares that there are three former Bengal players in addition to Coach Paul Brown that are enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Tackle Anthony Munoz along with transplanted wide receivers Charlie Joiner and Terrell Owens.

May 23, 2018 - The NFL owners approved a new  and somewhat controversial NFL national anthem policy whereby players would now be required to stand if they choose to be on the field for pre-game presentations. Of course that also gave them the option to remain in the locker room during the anthem. This policy did not remain in effect for very long due to negative publicity and changes in public perception.

May 23, 1888 - Andover, Massachusetts - Ted Coy is a College Football Hall of Fame member as a Fullback from Yale University. He was a First-Team All-American in 3 consecutive years in 1907 through 1909 and in 1910 he served as the head coach of Yale. Amazingly as a player for the Eli's Coy lost only one game according to the National Football Foundation's biography on the him. That was a close 4-0 loss to rival Harvard in 1908, a crushing defeat that occurred in the season's final game. Coy was reknown for leading the Bulldogs in come- from-behind victories. It was a familiar sight when Ted would burst through an enemy defense, his long blonde hair held back by a white sweatband. Coy was a pressure player who always seemed to come up with the big play. He ran through the line with hammering, high knee action then unleashed a fast, fluid running motion through the secondary. In 1907, he helped the Elis post a 9-0-1 record which was blemished only by a scoreless tie with Army. The next season, Coy repeated as a All-America as the Bulldogs finished with a 7-1-1 mark. But it was in Ted's final playing season as a senior that he captained the Yale club through one of the greatest seasons in Yale Football's rich history. The Bulldogs finished 10-0-0 and ran off 209 points while not letting one opponent score even a single point!

Ted Coy in 1909. Photo comes from the U.S. Library of Congress collection and was taken by Bain News Service.

May 23, 1946 - Gary Barnett NCAA Coach. Barnett entered the coaching ranks in 1969 when he became a graduate assistant at the University of Missouri. After graduation he coached high school football in Colorado then after 11 years moved back to the collegiate ranks of coaching at Fort Lewis College, Northwestern and then the University of Colorado at Boulder. His Northwestern team of 1995 won the Big 10 title significant due to the fact that it was the first time in nearly 60 years that a Wildcat squad had done so.

May 23, 1959 - Rich Karlis was an NFL kicker for the Broncos, Vikings and Lions. Karlis also kicked collegiately at the University of Cincinnatti. The stalwart kicker seems to be the last of the barefoot field goal kickers that was the trend in football during the 1980's. Rich Karlis set a Super Bowl record at the time for his 48 yard boot in Super Bowl XXI and won kicked the winning points in the 1986 AFC Championship Playoff game against the Browns in a game that has gone down into football lure known simply as "The Drive."

May 23, 1991 - Aaron Donald NFL All Pro Defensive End for Los Angeles Rams also celebrates his birth on this day. Donald was an All-Amercan selection during his NCAA career while attending the University of Pittsburgh. He was voted the Defensive Rookie of the year in 2014 and has been named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice. His disruptive play has most in the football world giving him consideration as one of the most effective Defensive Line players of all time.

For more stats on football people born on May 23 see Pro Football Reference's page

See something that happened on this date that we missed? Please let us know via email at PigskinDispatch@gmail.com. 

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by Carol M. Highsmith circa October 2016 and is titled " Aerial View of Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio  ."