From Pioneers to Plastic: Why September 25 Is a Touchdown in Football History
Did you know the man who broke football’s color barrier was a 6’0″, 200-lb “Black Cyclone” who ran for an 83-yard touchdown in his first pro game?
Step onto the gridiron of history! September 25th marks an incredible intersection of milestones: from 1904, when Charles Follis became the first African-American professional football player to be paid, to 1939, when the revolutionary Riddell Shell Helmet was invented. We also celebrate the day a legendary college losing streak ended (Northwestern, after 34 straight losses!) and the birthday of All-Pro Dat Nguyen, the first Vietnamese-American to earn NFL recognition.
There are also anniversaries of some of the greatest games of football ever played at the College and professional levels. Check out the inserts below!
Discover the stories of these game-changers and how one single date shaped everything from race relations to player safety in American football!
September 25 American Football History Timeline
- September 25, 1904 – Charles “The Black Cyclone” Follis becomes the first African-American player to play professional football and get paid. A team from Shelby, Ohio, known as the Shelby Blues of the Ohio League, signed Mr. Follis under contract on September 15, 1904, for the 1904 season. Charles also appears on the Blues’ roster for the 1902 and 1903 seasons, but it is unclear whether he was paid for those games.
According to an article in the Shelby Daily Globe, the first game of the 1904 season took place on September 25, 1904, against the Marion Athletic Club. A 1980 article in the PFRA’s Coffin Corner led Shelby to a 29-0 victory over rival Marion, headlined by his 83-yard scoring run. Charles Follis was reported to be 6′-0″ tall and weighed in at 200 pounds, and his strength and speed at that size made him a tough runner for the opposition to bring down. The Coffin Corner article also reports that Follis helped start his Wooster High School football team in 1899 as a junior. That first Wooster team went undefeated and held all opponents scoreless! A few years later, Shelby Athletic Club Manager F. C. Schiffer noticed Follis playing for the Wooster A.C. Shortly thereafter, the Shelby manager offered Follis a job at a local hardware store and a place on his football team.
Charles became endeared to the Blues faithful not only for his football prowess but also for his kind disposition. Opposing fans and players were not particularly welcoming to him due to his skin color. The racial ignorance led to many instances of “dirty play” by opponents towards Follis, and opposing fans shouting disparaging words at him. Through it all, Follis kept a level head and stayed focused on the game. Injuries in 1906 forced Charles to discontinue playing football. Still, he did go on to play professional baseball for a couple of seasons until his untimely death in 1910 at the age of 31 from pneumonia.
- September 25, 1937 – Our banner image today depicts the program cover of the Official Program for the September 25, 1937, Pitt versus Ohio Wesleyan football game. The Panthers won handily 59-0 en route to finishing with a 9-0-1 record and the top ranking in the East. Their only blemish was a scoreless tie with the Fordham Rams.
Jock Sutherland coached Pitt, and on the opposite sideline, former Notre Dame legend Jim Crowley led the Fordham squad.
It would be interesting to know if this may have been the model for the original Pro Football Hall of Fame logo.
- September 25, 1939- Riddell introduces the Shell Helmet. 1st helmet to use a hard plastic shell was available to players. General George S. Patton and the U.S. servicemen in WWII adopted their internal suspension strap system. Only the college and high school games adopted the plastic shells at this time. The leather helmet era in the NFL ended at the start of the 1950 season, when the league adopted plastic shells.
- September 25, 1982 – Northwestern University breaks its 34-game losing streak by knocking off Northern University 31-6. Dennis Green coached the Wildcats, and his preparation led to his Northwestern squad overcoming the longest losing streak in Division I football.
September 25 Football Hall of Fame Birthdays
On September 25, we celebrate a couple of Hall of Fame birthdays:
- John Lynch [1971] – One of the most feared, bone-jarring safeties in NFL history, Lynch was the intimidating physical enforcer of Monte Kiffin’s legendary “Tampa 2” defense that led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, the nine-time Pro Bowler totaled 26 career interceptions across 15 seasons with the Buccaneers and Denver Broncos before transitioning into a championship-caliber front-office executive.
- Dat Nguyen [1975] – A dominant, instinctive tackling machine for Texas A&M’s famed “Wrecking Crew” defense, Nguyen won the 1998 Bednarik and Lombardi Awards and earned consensus All-American honors before his 2017 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1999 NFL Draft, he made historic ground as the first Vietnamese-American player in league history, racking up over 500 tackles and a 2003 All-Pro selection over a stellar seven-year career.
