Yale v. Princeton 1884
November 28, 1884 - New York City -Yale versus Princeton Game. Great football historian Parke H. Davis in his book “Football the Intercollegiate Game” sheds some light to this contest as well as the SaturdayBlitz.com. The Yale-Princeton game was scheduled to play that afternoon in New York as a precursor and entertainment spectacle for the Intercollegiate Rules Convention that would meet later that evening in the Big Apple. It sounded fair enough on having an official picked from each team and then a referee to settle any disputes that may otherwise occur, but the reality makes it about as clear as mud. After many arguments between the opposing officials and the game being ended early on account of darkness with Yale up 6-4, it was a real mess for Referee Mr. Appleton. The rules stated that if the game ended prematurely that it was to go down as a 0-0 “No Game.” This game controversy of course entered into and dominated the discussions at the Rules meeting at the Fifth Avenue Hotel until late into the night. The outcome was to sustain the Ref’s decision of No Game.
Auburn plays Georgia
A photograph of the 1895 Auburn at Georgia football game in Atlanta, taken by Fred L Howe, Courtesy of the Atlanta history Photgraph Collection on Wikimedia Commons
November 28, 1895 - Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia - The Auburn University football team traveled to face the Bulldogs of Georgia in an early gridiron matchup. The traveling Tigers won the contest 16-6.
Ernie Nevers scores all the Cardinals Points!
November 28, 1929 - Comiskey Park, Chicago - According to a story on the website goldenrankings.com Ernie Nevers of the Chicago Cardinals became the first professional football player to score six touchdowns in a single game. The story goes that it was a Thanksgiving Day game for the title of the “Chicago City Championship” as the Cardinals played their cross town rivals the Bears. Snow was falling on the Windy City that day but still 8,000 fans went to cheer the teams on at the field. Due to slippery field conditions the Cardinals abandoned their double-wing offense and instead decided to continually run Nevers right up the gut of the Bears defense. The strategy couldn’t have worked any better as Ernie Nevers scored all of the Cardinal points, including the extra points in the 40-6 drubbing of the Monsters of the Midway. The defense of the Redbirds did an amazing job of holding the Bears to only 6 points when they had the backfield of Joey Sternman, Paddy Driscoll and Red Grange!
Davey O'Brien's Heisman Win
November 28, 1938 - 4th Heisman Trophy was awarded to quarterback Davey O'Brien of Texas Christian University. Some highlights of the season that O’Brien had in 1938 come from information found on Heisman.com. The shifty QB was the first Heisman winner from not only TCU but also from the Southwest Conference. His 1509 passing yards and 19 touchdowns were complimented by an additional 462 yards gained on the ground along with 6 interceptions on the defensive side of the ball. What a 1938 season Mr. O’Brien had!
Guest Writer – Chris Lawton CFL editor for ninety-nine yards.
The Grey Cup has a long and storied tradition having been first awarded in 1909. With some gaps along the way there have been 107 times the game has been contested. Ten of those contests fell on the 28th of November. But what were those games like? Let's take a look as we have placed Chris's great work chronologicaly in our Football History Headlines today.
1953 Grey Cup: a controversial end
Sometimes it feels like we are seeing everything fresh when watching football. But there have been plenty of controversies down the years. The 2018 NFC championship game ended on a non-call for pass interference for example. Well some 65 years before that Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans were crying foul on what they thought was a missed PI call too in the 41st Grey Cup final.
With the score 12-6 in favour of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and time running out in the fourth quarter, Winnipeg QB Jack Jacobs had led the Blue Bombers on a 92 yard drive. A pass to receiver Tom Casey on the goal line was stopped as a Hamilton defender hit Casey as the ball arrived. It was either a perfectly timed hit or pass interference and the refs called the former. Hamilton walked away with the win and Winnipeg and their fans were left frustrated.
18th Iron Bowl
November 28, 1953 - Legion Field, Birmingham - The 18th version of the old Iron Bowl was one you had to hang onto the edge of your seat for. Alabama beats Auburn 10-7 in Birmingham. A great story on 247sports.com will fill you in with the details but in the abridged headline version we can tell you that the game came down to the final drive. Crimson Tide quarterback Bart Starr tossed a crucial pass to Bill Oliver to help get Alabama into field goal range to win the game.
1956 NFL Draft
November 28, 1955 - Yes back in this era the prospects for the NFL were not afforded Combines, Pro Days, Bowl Games and All-Star games to show off their talents. Their merit was strictly from their performance on the gridiron. The NFL held their annual Draft just after the college season was ending, because they had other stiff competition for talent from rival pro leagues in those days. The 1956 NFL Draft had Gary Glick from University of Colorado A&M being taken as the first pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
1959 Grey Cup: Rematch brings the same result by: Chris Lawton
On a muddy field at CNE Stadium in Toronto 33,133 fans were on hand to see the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats face off for the third time in three years. Both teams had won one each and Winnipeg were defending their championship from the year before.
Hamilton missed a couple of TD chances in the game and after the Bombers had held a 3-1 halftime lead the Ti-Cats hit on two Field Goals from Steve Oneschuk for a 7-4 lead. Winnipeg hit a single before getting a break early in the fourth quarter. Hamilton’s Gerry McDougall, lost the ball on the Hamilton 43 after a hit by Roger Savoie. Winnipeg’s Bud Tinsley recovered, and two plays later the Bombers scored a touchdown. Hamilton were unable to move into the wind and Shepard scored three singles on wind-assisted punts.
Winnipeg iced the game with a last second TD following a turnover on downs and walked away with a 21-7 win to claim the rubber match between the two teams in the 47th Grey Cup.
Iron Bowl
November 28, 1959 - Legion Field, Birmingham - At the 24th Iron Bowl: it was Alabama blanking Auburn 10-0 breaking a streak of five consecutive wins by the Tigers in the head to head matchups thank you for the headline from On this Day website.
1964 Grey Cup: Battle of the Cats rematch brings a different result by: Chris Lawton
The 52nd Grey Cup saw 32,655 fans on hand at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. There they saw the 11-2-3 Lions defeat the 10-3-1 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 34-24.
This was a rematch of the 1963 Grey Cup which Hamilton had won. This time however, the Lions were able to claim their first Grey Cup victory. You can read about this one in detail over at Ninety-Nine Yards.
HB/DB Bill Munsey was the unlikely star of the game, scoring on both offence and defence in the third quarter.
1965 NFL Draft and '64 USC vs. Notre Dame matchup
November 28, 1964 - 1965 NFL Draft: Tucker Frederickson from Auburn University first pick by New York Giants
November 28, 1964 - Notre Dame loses to USC 20-17 on a last second pass play. The loss crushed ND's hopes for a National Championship season per Irish Legends.com .
Gary Baben Wins Heisman
November 28, 1967 - The 33rd Heisman Trophy Award goes to UCLA Quarterback Gary Beban. Heisman.com shares that though Beban lost a heart wrenching game to USC by the tune of 21-20, the Bruins signal caller got the 1967 Heisman nod over USC rusher O.J. Simpson due to his duel threat ability. Gary Beban tossed to 8 touchdowns on 1359 yards passing but he also ran an additional 227 yards with 11 more scores.
Theisman's Big game in the rain
November 28, 1970 - Los Angeles, Coliseum - Fighting Irish Quarterback, Joe Theisman throws for a whopping 526 yards against USC in a driving rain storm. The Trojans were too much though as the final score was Southern Cal 38, Notre Dame 28. http://www.irishlegends.com/Pages/calendar/11.asp
1970 Grey Cup: Battle of the third place finishers. by: Chris Lawton
The 58th Grey Cup was played out on a terrible field between two teams that had finished third in their respective Divisions – the Calgary Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes.
In front of 32,669 fans at CNE stadium in Toronto QB Sonny Wade led the Alouettes to a 23-10 victory. You can read much more about the game here.
Following problems with the turf this game was the last Grey Cup played on natural grass until the 1984 game at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium.
Auburn's Comeback
November 28, 1970 - Legion Field, Birmingham - The Tide jumped out to an early 17-0 lead but Tigers quarterback Pat Sullivan, wide receiver Terry Beasley and company were not done yet. 247sports.com tells the tale of how the Auburn Tigers came from behind to get past Alabama’s Crimson Tide 33-28 in a thrilling second half.
1971 Grey Cup: “The ground can’t cause a fumble” by: Chris Lawton
The 59th Grey Cup was played out in front of 34,404 people at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. They would see Calgary win their first title since 1948 14-11. Playing on ‘Tartan Turf’ it was the first Grey Cup to be played on artificial turf.
The Argos had not appeared in the Grey Cup since 1952 but went into this as favourites despite the Stamps making their third championship game appearance in four years.
Calgary scored all their points in the first half to lead 14-3. Toronto got back into it recovering a fumbled punt return for a TD, but the key play involved star running back Leon McQuay. At the Stamps 11 yard line QB Joe Theismann handed the ball to McQuary, who slipped on the wet field and fumbled the ball which Calgary recovered. McQuay dropped the ball when his elbow hit the ground and he had not been contacted by a Stampeder defender, bringing up the argument "the ground can't cause a fumble."
1976 Grey Cup: Rider Bowl goes to the Red Riders with ‘The Catch’ by: Chris Lawton
The 64th Grey Cup saw a then record 53,467 fans on hand to see the Ottawa Rough Riders defeat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 23-20 in a classic at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
This was the last Grey Cup championship for the Ottawa Rough Riders (the team folded in 1996) and last major sports championship of any kind for Ottawa until the RedBlacks won the Grey Cup 40 years later in 2016. One thing that stood out in this game was that every point was scored by a Canadian player.
The game went back and forth and was settled by ‘The Catch’ with 20 seconds remaining. With 20 seconds left and stationed on the Saskatchewan 24 yard line, Ottawa threw for the end zone. Tony Gabriel slipped behind the Saskatchewan secondary and reeled in QB Tom Clements’ throw in the back of the end zone.
Billy Sims Awarded Heisman
November 28, 1978 - Billy Sims, Oklahoma’s talented running back won the 44th Heisman Trophy Award. The Heisman’s official website informs us that Sims led the nation in rushing in just his junior season with a BIG 8 Conference record of 1762 yards on the ground. Billy went over 200 yards in four of that season's contests and his 20 TDs and 7.0 yards per carry were numbers extremely impressive to the Heisman voters.
Iron Bowl '81
November 28, 1981 - Legion Field, Birmingham -The Crimson Tide defeated Auburn 28-17 in the 46th Iron Bowl. The victory gave Alabama’s Bear Bryant his 315th win to surpass Almos Alonzo Stagg to become college football's coach with the most victories.
