October 6

Here is what happened in football history on October 6: The creation of the Texans franchise; some New York Jets historic events and reflecting on the careers of Tony Dungy and George Pfann!

October 6, 1983 - The New York Jets franchise announced to the media that they would be leaving the confines of Shea Stadium to play future home games at the Meadowlands, sharing the stadium with their NFC counterparts the New York Football Giants.

October 6, 1996 - Nick Lowery of the New York Jets ties legendary kicker Jon Stenerud with 373 career NFL field goals. Lowery booted two FG’s and an extra point in a loss to the Oakland Raiders 34-13.

October 6, 2012 - The 6th ranked University of South Carolina upsets the 5th ranked University of Georgia 35-7. The battle was much anticipated in the SEC Eastern Division as both teams were favorites to be in the end. The results of the SEC East were somewhat surprising after this game as Georgia won the division with a 7-1 record, just ahead of a 7-1 Florida. South Carolina meanwhile suffered lossed to Florida and at number 9 LSU to post a conference record of 6-2.

October 6, 1999 - The NFL awarded the Houston Texans franchise a spot as the 32nd team in the League. Businessman Bob McNair and his Houston contingent went on a wild ride filled with patience, persistence and a little bit of luck. McNair and others in June of 1997 tried to obtain an NHL franchise for Houston but that failed. A couple of weeks later the Texas city learned that their beloved NFL team, the Oilers were leaving for Tennessee, this started Bob McNair and his partners to change gears and petition for a new NFL franchise. In 1998 Cleveland was awarded the 31st franchise by the League offices in New York and everyone knew that the NFL desired to have an even number of teams for scheduling balance. McNair and his group pushed hard to get the franchise rights but found a disappointing result when the League approved Los Angeles with the 32nd team. All hope was not lost though as the LA award had a contingent clause that stated a suitable ownership group and stadium by the deadline of September 15, 1998. This deadline was not met and in the spring of 1999, NFL owners voted that McNair and Houston were the next city up and on October 6, 1999 the NFL officially announced the Texans as their newest expansion team!

October 6, 1902 - George Pfann was a former legendary quarterback from Cornell University. How many college quarterbacks in college history can claim that they were never beaten and never tied? According to the National Football Foundation’s website, not many, but George Pfann did achieve this feat. Pfann, along with Big Red backfield mate Hall of Famer Eddie Kaw, helped Cornell dispatch every opposing team they faced in 1921 through the 1923 seasons. The Cornell teams of this period outscored opponents by a whopping margin of 1051-81! The box scores of these games showed finals such as 110-0, 55-0, 59-0 and even more lopsided contests.  During the 1923 season George scored 15 touchdowns in just 8 games! After graduation from Cornell, Pfann became a Rhodes Scholar after completing more studies at Oxford University in England and then returned to the States to coach a bit at Cornell and Swarthmore College. He also served as a U.S. Attorney in New York State and during World War II was on the staff of General George S. Patton as a lieutenant colonel! The National Football Foundation enshrined him into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957.

October 6, 1925 - Bob Fenimore played halfback for the Oklahoma State University football team during the seasons of 1943 through 1946 . He was known as the original “Blonde Bomber” (slide over Terry Bradshaw, LOL) due to his triple threat abilities on display.  The website footballfoundation.org informs us that Homer Cooke of the National Collegiate Athletic Bureau labeled Fenimore as "the greatest one-man offense in college football history." In 1943, as a freshman, Bob led his Oklahoma A&M team in passing, rushing and scoring! The next season in 1944 Fennimore led the nation in total offense, accounting for a stellar average 195 yards of total offense per game!  The trend continued in the 1945 season and Bob was at the top of the nation in both rushing and total offense and he was recognized with All-American honors in both 1944 and 1945 for his performance. Unfortunately his senior season only saw him take the field in five games, due to injury, but when he was finally done he had set records for the college game in career total offense. The National Football Foundation voted Bob into their College Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

October 6, 1930 - Les Richter was a linebacker from the University of California that eventually played in the NFL for the LA Rams. It was a crazy path for Richter to get to the Rams. He was actually picked in the 1952 NFL draft by the New York Yanks franchise but a couple days after the draft the Yanks franchise folded! Profootballhof.com explains that Les’s NFL rights were then transferred to the new expansion team, the Dallas Texans. The Rams ended up trading 11 players to the Texans to get the rights of Richter a short time later.  The Rams waited patiently for a couple seasons for Les to complete a military obligation and then the coveted player gave the franchise 9 exciting seasons where he made 8 straight Pro Bowls and was voted as an All-Pro on 6 of them! Besides playing linebacker , Richter also spent some time as a kicker and playing center for the Rams when needed. The Pro Football Hall of Fame selected Les Richter to be a part of their 2011 enshrinement class.

October 6, 1955-Tony Dungy played football as a Minnesota Golden Gopher. He was a good athlete and so much so that he made it onto the roster of the 1977 & 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers, during their dynasty run as a defensive back and then played a third season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. His play was not where his NFL greatness shined through but after his playing career was over he took the lessons he learned from coaching greats such as Chuck Noll , Bill Walsh and Dennis Green to move into a defensive coordinator position with his alma mater the University of Minnesota. In 1981 he returned with the Steelers where he worked his way up to eventually be the defensive coordinator. He then moved on to be an assistant with Kansas City before taking over the defense of the Minnesota Vikings. In 1996 Tony received his big break as he became the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach.  Dungy spent 6 years in that role, taking the Bucs to the playoffs in four of them. In 2002 he was relieved of his duties with the organization. After only 8 days of being unemployed, the Indianapolis Colts came calling to hire Tony as their head man and what great timing that was for all involved. Dungy and the Colts in 2006 defeated New England in the AFC Championship 38-34 and then snatched victory in Super Bowl XLI over the Chicago Bears to become the first African American Head Coach to lead an NFL team to the Title!  He was voted as the NFL’s Coach of the year in 2005 and made the all decade team as the coach for the 2000’s. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Tony Dungy in 2016.

October 6, 1963 - Napoleon McCallum was a former running back of the Navy Midshipmen. Napoleon was dynamite in his running style as he led the nation in all purpose yards in both 1983 and 1985 per the National Football Foundation. McCallum was a two time consensus All-American and made the fans of Navy proud. The prolific runner was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Due to his Naval commitments he put his professional career on hold for a bit, but he did eventually play for the NFL’s LA Raiders for five seasons.