Camp revises the game to truly become American Football
October 18, 1880 - Walter Camp presents rules revisions to set a limit of 11 players on the field for each team, and also creating the snap to prevent the chaos of teams fighting for the ball in a scrum. Prior to that some colleges played games with 12 to 25 players per side participating on the field and the ball was put in play with a scrum, much like rugby!
Iron Bowl
October 18, 1902 - Birmingham, Alabama - The famous Iron Bowl is played for the seventh time as Auburn defeats their longtime rival Alabama 23-0. The term "Iron Bowl" comes almost as a tribute to the City of Birmingham's involvement in the steel industry. The Crimson Tide holds the advantage at the time of this writing with 45 wins compared to 36 victories for the Auburn Tigers over the history of the series. There was only one tie in the series between these two founding members of the SEC and that occurred in 1907.
The Galloping Ghost has a Historic Day
October 18, 1924 - Urbana, Illinois - Harold "Red" Grange, also known as the "Galloping Ghost " may have played his best collegiate football game in his career on this day. Per the source of a New York TImes archive article from the day from the Associated Press, Grange in front of 67,000 fans packed into the new Illinois Memorial Stadium witnessed the Ghost and his Illinois teammates take apart their rival Michigan University. Red Grange, the University of Illinois phenomenon, All- America halfback, was the star attraction and his play did not disappoint the onlookers. Grange displayed a remarkable exhibition of running and passing in the game and set this college game as what would be the measuring stick of a truly great individual performance for the gridiron for years to come.
The Ghost galopped hard that afternoon as he scored five of Illinois' six touchdowns leaving no doubt in anyone's mind on how hard it was to defend against him. It started on the opening kickoff as Grange scooped up the ball on the Illinois five-yard line and raced 95 yards through the Michigan eleven for a touchdown in less than ten seconds into the contest! Before the Michigan team could catch their breath and collect themselves, Red Grange had struck paydirt multiple more times in rapid succession with runs of 66, 55 and 40 yards, respectively, for his next three scores. Coach Bob Zuppke took him out of the line-up before the first quarter ended. He returned later to launch several successful passes and score a fifth touchdown in the second half. Final score had the Illini with 39 points, and the Wolverines scoring 14. Red was the first collegiate star to turn pro, signing with the Chicago Bears in 1925 and he became the face of the pro game, eventually making a name not only for himself, but for a young National Football League.
Racial Milestone Moment in NFL History
October 18, 1953 - Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois - Willie Thrower had the perfect name for an NFL quarterback. What was truly remarkable is what a pioneer in American professional football history. A chicagobears.com article shares how Willie overcame unbelievable obstacles when he became the 1st NFL quarterback in modern times to be of African- American descent. The contest pitted the Chicago Bears against the San Francisco 49ers and Bears starting quarterback George Blanda was struggling. Papa Bear, George Halas could not watch any more of Blanda's ineffective play in the contest so looking for an offensive spark, he sent in the promising backup QB Willie Thrower. Thrower was a collegiate quarterback with the National Champion Michigan State Spartans of 1952. The Niners rendered Willie's effectiveness too allowing him to throw for a mere completion rate of 3 of 8 for 27 yards. Halas returned Blanda to the game but the San Fran squad had the Bear's number on that day as the game resulted in a close 35-28 Niners victory. Willie played in only one more game for the Bears in 1953 before being released by Halas but though his playing career was short, it certainly had a tremendous impact. Thrower helped to pave a path that many others followed. NFL legend Warren Moon mentioned Willie Thrower in his Pro Football Hall of Fame acceptance speech, thanking him for providing inspiration to Moon's football journey.
Six Big Kicks
October 18, 1981 - Kingdome, Seattle, Washington - NY Giant kicker, Joe Danelo tied an NFL record of 6 field goals in a game, per pro-football-reference.com, as the G-men cruised to a comfortable 32-0 shutout of the Seahawks. Successful Danelo kicks from 29, 54, 21, 47, 31 and 37 yards helped pad the Giants score in the route.
Scrammblin' Randall Cuningham
October 18, 1992 - Philadelphia Eagle Randall Cunningham sets NFL quarterback career scramble yardage record of 3,683 yards.
A Big Moment for Football as a Gender Barrier is Broken
October 18, 1997 - Liz Heaston became the first woman to score in a college level football game as she kicked two extra points for NAIA's Willamette University. The school's wubearcats.com website recounts the event with a story that Heaston was a woman's soccer player for the University and that she was in one of Head Football Coach Dan Hawkins' classes during the fall semester. When the starting kicker, Gordon Thomson, suffered an injury, with no backup on the roster and the men's soccer schedule conflicted with the football team's, Coach Hawkins went to another resource, one of his students that was on the women's soccer team, one Liz Heaston. Heaston was an honorable mention in NCAA Division III All-American selections and she helped the ladies of Willamette win four conference titles in soccer. Liz had 3 weeks of practice on the gridiron before she stepped her 5-foot-5-inch, 135 pounds onto the football field. The schedule for that October Saturday timed out just right for Liz. She played a home soccer game at noon and as soon as the clock hit zero's she tore off to slip on the shoulder pads and helmet and scotted on over to the football field to play in the Willamette Football teams home game against Linfield University. Then it happened, with little clock remaining in the first half, Liz Heaton strolled out onto the field and knocked through an extra point. The crowd went wild, but then there was a pause...a flag had been thrown by one of the officials. Could history just be undone? Offsides...Linfield, Liz Heaston had just become the first woman to score points in an organized regular collegiate football game! The season for the Willamette Bearcat football team was truly memorable, not only with Liz's great milestone accomplishment, but the team went undefeated until they lost to Findlay Ohio in the NAIA Championship game by the score of 14-7. Liz's other team, the women's soccer of Willamette, they played well too finishing 18-3-1 and Liz Heaston was a part of each of their success and for breaking through a barrier, where a woman put her mark in a place that had traditionally been a place where only men had tread.
The G.O.A.T keeps doing what he does
October 18, 2009 - Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts - New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady threw five second quarter touchdown passes against the Tennessee Titans, setting an NFL record for touchdown passes in one quarter. Brady finished with six scoring strikes in the game as the Patriots shelled the Titans 59-0.
