October 15

Here is what happened in football history on October 15: The Eagles took flight; There were some BIG college games played on this date in 1988 and multiple interesting Hall of Famers were born on October 15 and we discuss them all along with a special guest John Gidley of the Football Attic Podcast!

October 15, 1884  - New York City - Another football rules convention was held and one focus was to mold the fair catch rules and the meeting defined fair catch as  “a catch made direct from a kick or a throw forward, or a knock on by one of the opposing sides, or from a punt.”  Of course in our era of football we are only familiar with a fair catch being used on a kick or a punt.

October 15, 1933 - Polo Grounds, New York, New York - The Philadelphia Eagles played in their very 1st NFL regular season game as they faced the New York Football Giants. The Eagles were formed from the remains of the defunct Frankford Yellow Jackets franchise that was sold to a group of Philadelphia-based businessmen. The profootballhof.com documentation of the game says that when the Eagles took the field for the first time ever they were overwhelmed by an overpowering Giants team led by rookie quarterback Harry Newman. The Giants jumped out to an early 21-0 first quarter lead before the starters gave way to replacements. The game didn’t get any brighter with the reserves in as New York shutout Philly 56-0. The Eagles struggle to get in the win column would be for another two games played against tough opponents in the Green Bay Packers and the Portsmouth Spartans. Finally, in week four of that first season, Philadelphia would play on the opposite end of a shutout as they would earn the franchise’s first victory on Sunday November 5, 1933 as they won 6-0 over the Cincinnati Reds. In their next game they tied a tough Chicago Bears squad then rattled off two more victories over the Pittsburgh Pirates and again over the Reds before dropping their final two games to the Packers and Giants once again. Pro-Football-Reference indicates that the inaugural season of the Eagles was a 3rd place finish in the NFL East with a 3-5-1 mark. The 1933 season was won by the Chicago Bears, the team that the Eagles had tied 3-3 earlier in the year, as the Bears knocked off the Giants 23-21 in the NFL Championship Game played December 7, 1933. The Eagles would go on to win 3 NFL Championships prior to the Super Bowl era in 1948, 1949  and again in 1960. They of course won Super Bowl LII in 2018 in the modern era of the NFL, by defeating the New England Patriots 41-33.

October 15, 1987 - NFL Players Association orders an end to a 24 day strike. The union failed to achieve demands in the short-term as there was no collective bargaining agreement in place. The owners had used replacement players for a couple of the weeks to meet television contract commitments. It didn’t help the NFLPA cause though when star players such as Joe Montana, Mark Gastineau and Steve Largent started breaking ranks and crossed the picket line. This eventually led to all of the players returning back to work in week 7. See more on the strike in our September 22 post.

October 15, 1988 - South Bend, Indiana - The reigning champion Miami Hurricanes entered Notre Dame Stadium to face an undefeated Fighting Irish squad. It was a big game with much on the line.  Miami came into the contest with a 36 game unbeaten streak and were ranked number one in the nation for good reason while Notre Dame was ranked 4th in the polls. Tensions were high and this became extremely evident when there was a pre-game fight in front of the entrance tunnels. The game was a tight one most of the day, much to the delight of everyone watching. The hype of this game, deemed colloquially as Catholics vs. Convicts, was living up to every ounce of the build up. With 45 seconds left to play the Hurricanes scored a touchdown to make the score 30-31 in favor of the Irish. Hurricane Head Coach Jimmy Johnson had a decision to make, kick the extra point and hopefully go into overtime or go for two and go for the jugular in regulation. Johnson elected to go for the win in regulation and the Irish defender Pat Terrel batted down the Hurricane pass from QB Steve Walsh to preserve the Notre Dame one point lead and the Irish victory!

October 15, 1988  - Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska - A second pretty awesome matchup in college football on the same day! Number 7 Nebraska would entertain number 10 Oklahoma State  in a Big 8 Conference showdown. The Huskers came out putting on the heat as they grabbed every opportunity they had to jump out to a 42-0 lead early in the second quarter over their rivals! The Cowboys suddenly awoke from the nightmare they were in and they rattled off 21 points in the second quarter of their own but found themselves down 49-21 at the half. The most amazing part of this contest was that the yardage was not all through the air as one might expect in such a high scoring game according to a huskermax.com story. There was a grand total of only 349 total passing yards in the game for the two teams combined. The combined rushing yards was an NCAA record at 778 for the game. Nebraska running back Ken Clark ran for 256 yards on 27 attempts to lead the Huskers while OSU Cowboys Star Barry Sanders paced his team with 35 rushes for 189 yards in the Nebraska 63 to Oklahoma State 42 final score.

October 15, 1995 - Clemson’s Memorial Stadium Clemson, South Carolina - The Carolina Panthers win their 1st game ever beating NY Jets 26-15.  According to panthers.com the Jets were up 12-6 with 22 seconds to go before halftime. The New York Quarterback, Bubby Brister, dropped back to pass and threw a shovel pass forward to where he thought his awaiting running back would be. Instead Panthers linebacker Sam Mills stood in the was to accept the gift and weaved, rumbled and tumbled 36 yards for an unexpected Panther TD before the half ended putting the Carolina team in their inaugural season up 13-12 at the half. It was a turning point in the game and the season for the young team as they not only won that game but they won their next three games as well and seven of their last 11 to finish the season with a record of 7-9 - the best for any expansion team in NFL history. Dom Capers was the head coach of this new expansion franchise in Carolina. Less than a decade later he would become the only person to have ever led two different NFL expansion teams in their inaugural season when he took the 2002 Houston Texans out on to the field for the first time.

October 15, 1886 -  Was when the birth of Jonas Ingram occurred. Jonas Ingram won the Medal of Honor in 1914 in the Mexican Revolution battle, fought in World War I with the US Navy, and during World War II he not only fought in the Navy but he was an Admiral that commanded the entire US Atlantic Fleet! Before the Wars though Jonas Ingram was a football player, and a good one at that as he was a fullback  and a linebacker that played for the U.S  Naval Academy. He was often called the “One Armed Admiral” as he often said ,”I’d give my right arm to win this ball game!” to his teammates. He was a fierce competitor and according to his bio on footballfoundation.org, his efforts in the Army game in 1906 led to a Navy win. After his playing days he returned to the Academy to coach the Midshipmen for three seasons. The National Football Foundation selected Jonas Ingram to enter into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

October 15, 1892 - Quincy, Massachusetts - Huntington “Tack” Hardwick was born. Huntington was a halfback and defensive end for Harvard University during a span where the team reeled off 33 straight victories between 191 and 1915 according to the National FOotball Foundation’s website. Tack entered the HArvard fray in 1912 and had an instant impact as he ran for a 60 yard touchdown to defeat Princeton for the first time in 25 seasons. He later in the Yale game tackled a runner with such a powerful hit that it jarred the ball loose and led to a Harvard score, sealing their undefeated season.  As a matter of fact, Tack Hardwick never played on a college team that lost as the Harvard Crimson football team was 25-0-2 with Tack in the lineup. Tack Hardwick was ushered into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

October 15, 1917 Glen Ellyn, Illinois - Bob MacLeod was born. Bob was a former halfback from Dartmouth University that played from 1936 through the 1938 season.  He was the main offensive weapon of Dartmouth as they won 21 of 27 games that he played in. Most opposing teams came into the games against Dartmouth with the objective to stop MacLeod but they still had trouble doing it as he averaged 6 yards per carry in his 3 year college career. The National Football Foundation selected Bob MacLeod to enter into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977. Bob played with the Chicago Bears for a couple of seasons before joining the U.S. Marines to fight in World War II. After the war he was a business leader in the magazine industry.