American Football 1872 and 1873

The years 1872 and 1873 were important in the development of American football. Following the 1869 game, colleges began to form organized teams, and intercollegiate play started to become more common. In 1872, Yale and Princeton played the first game between those two universities, marking the beginning of another storied rivalry. As more colleges joined in, standardization of the rules became necessary to ensure fair competition.

These early rules still strongly resembled rugby, but the foundation for a distinct American sport was being laid.

The Pigskin Parade image and information were published in the Cleveland Newspapers during the 1939 Football season. There were 35 episodes, each containing 3-5 frame cells. We salute the artist and author of this series and are reposting to honor their work. Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology recognizes the syndicated cartoon series' author as Jerry Brondfield (author) and an unknown but talented illustrator.

Tim says that this Pigskin Parade is the original series written by the same author and a different illustrator from the 1969 series called "100 Years Of Football," also released in book form., which was followed by 20-some tidbits in 2023.