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The Game That Was: An Illustrated Account of the Tumultuous Early Days of Pro Football
The Game That An Illustrated Account of the Tumultuous Early Days of Pro Football [hardcover] Cope, Myron [Jan 01, 1974]
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 9, 2025
This is no scripted history of early pro football. Rather, it's a loosely edited collection of old-man reminiscences. So consequently, there's a lot of historical detail that's missing, and what is written is far from linear. But much like grandpa's musings, there's a lot to be gained from the stream-of-consciousness.
And good crusty characters they are. Cope interviews a good cross section of All-Pros. The cool and calm Don Hutson. The consummate businessman, Cliff Battles. The devil-may-care adventurer Johnny Blood.
And much of the reward is not in the football stories, but more the underlying depiction of Depression and pre-Depression era society and mentalities. Guys living in $10 a week hotels. College kids wearing straw hats. Some anecdotes I circled...
"I imagine that up in Green Bay, with so much more outdoor life available, it must have been wonderful to be a football player, but in New York there wasn't a whole lot you could do."
"When people started taking their dead to funeral homes, that broke up the Irish wake as we knew it."
"Bent on respectability, New York Giant players no longer boarded public transportation wearing football jerseys."
But a lot of the reward, of course, is hearing about pro football when game attendance would regularly be under 1000 and guys would play both sides of the ball, wearing no pads.
"Ed Neal broke my nose seven times. Yes, that's right. No, he broke my nose *five* times. I got it broke seven times, but five times *he* broke it."
"And when that ball is snapped, I want every man to slug the man in front of him. The worst we can get is a fifteen-yard penalty. Whether one slugs or seven slug, the most we can get is fifteen yards."
"In a game at Detroit, a receiver named Ralph Heywood hid out in front of one of the benches. I think it might have been the Detroit bench, right near Bo McMillin, the Detroit coach. Anyway, nobody saw him. Then he ran down the sideline and I hit him for a touchdown. The Detroit fans threw snowballs at Bo McMillin."
It ain't Shakespeare, but it definitely has its place.
And good crusty characters they are. Cope interviews a good cross section of All-Pros. The cool and calm Don Hutson. The consummate businessman, Cliff Battles. The devil-may-care adventurer Johnny Blood.
And much of the reward is not in the football stories, but more the underlying depiction of Depression and pre-Depression era society and mentalities. Guys living in $10 a week hotels. College kids wearing straw hats. Some anecdotes I circled...
"I imagine that up in Green Bay, with so much more outdoor life available, it must have been wonderful to be a football player, but in New York there wasn't a whole lot you could do."
"When people started taking their dead to funeral homes, that broke up the Irish wake as we knew it."
"Bent on respectability, New York Giant players no longer boarded public transportation wearing football jerseys."
But a lot of the reward, of course, is hearing about pro football when game attendance would regularly be under 1000 and guys would play both sides of the ball, wearing no pads.
"Ed Neal broke my nose seven times. Yes, that's right. No, he broke my nose *five* times. I got it broke seven times, but five times *he* broke it."
"And when that ball is snapped, I want every man to slug the man in front of him. The worst we can get is a fifteen-yard penalty. Whether one slugs or seven slug, the most we can get is fifteen yards."
"In a game at Detroit, a receiver named Ralph Heywood hid out in front of one of the benches. I think it might have been the Detroit bench, right near Bo McMillin, the Detroit coach. Anyway, nobody saw him. Then he ran down the sideline and I hit him for a touchdown. The Detroit fans threw snowballs at Bo McMillin."
It ain't Shakespeare, but it definitely has its place.
February 24, 2023
Given the tremendous popularity of the National Football League in the twenty-first century, that was not the case 100 years ago when the league was formed. While college football drew massive crowds, professional football was largely an asterisk in the sports media. Players earned $75 to $100 per game in the early years with small rosters and even then, the teams rarely made money for their owners.
Yet, it was a time when the modern rules of the game were codified, and the major teams established in the big cities. One of the most interesting questions is why there is an NFL franchise in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a population of only 107,000 people. In the early years, the teams were sponsored by local businesses and were generally in small towns. Some of the original teams were the Decatur Staleys, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs and Dayton Triangles.
The men that played professional football in the early years were iron men. Not only did they play the full sixty minutes on both sides of the ball, they also played many more exhibition games against local teams. Furthermore, many of the hits that have been rendered illegal were just part of the game at the time. For example, one of the former players describes a tactic that their team used. On the first snap from center all of the linemen got up and punched their opponent. Since only one penalty could be called it cost them 15 yards. On the next play they did the same thing. After the third play they had lost 45 yards in penalties but had the other team intimidated.
This book is a collection of interviews of 18 of the early names of the NFL. Nearly all are former players, the lone exception is long-time Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. They describe their experiences in the sport that they loved and also some of the times when money was short. Some of the names such as Red Grange, Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh, Marion Motley and George Halas are well known. Nearly all of the others are relatively unknown.
One amazing statistic is that Sammy Baugh’s record of an average of 51.4 yards per punt in 1940 held for 82 seasons before it was broken in 2022. There was a game when Baugh threw for four touchdowns and intercepted four passes. Such numbers make excellent fodder for arguments regarding whether the old-timers could play in the modern game.
A history lesson in how professional football started, this is a book that reminds the reader why men still play and love football. Their memories of what they did on the football field are still clear, deep and recalled with fondness.
Yet, it was a time when the modern rules of the game were codified, and the major teams established in the big cities. One of the most interesting questions is why there is an NFL franchise in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a population of only 107,000 people. In the early years, the teams were sponsored by local businesses and were generally in small towns. Some of the original teams were the Decatur Staleys, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs and Dayton Triangles.
The men that played professional football in the early years were iron men. Not only did they play the full sixty minutes on both sides of the ball, they also played many more exhibition games against local teams. Furthermore, many of the hits that have been rendered illegal were just part of the game at the time. For example, one of the former players describes a tactic that their team used. On the first snap from center all of the linemen got up and punched their opponent. Since only one penalty could be called it cost them 15 yards. On the next play they did the same thing. After the third play they had lost 45 yards in penalties but had the other team intimidated.
This book is a collection of interviews of 18 of the early names of the NFL. Nearly all are former players, the lone exception is long-time Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney. They describe their experiences in the sport that they loved and also some of the times when money was short. Some of the names such as Red Grange, Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh, Marion Motley and George Halas are well known. Nearly all of the others are relatively unknown.
One amazing statistic is that Sammy Baugh’s record of an average of 51.4 yards per punt in 1940 held for 82 seasons before it was broken in 2022. There was a game when Baugh threw for four touchdowns and intercepted four passes. Such numbers make excellent fodder for arguments regarding whether the old-timers could play in the modern game.
A history lesson in how professional football started, this is a book that reminds the reader why men still play and love football. Their memories of what they did on the football field are still clear, deep and recalled with fondness.
June 10, 2015
Fun to read about the earliest stars of the NFL in this nostalgic account. What's funny is the book was written in 1970, referring to the "modern" era where the Super Bowl is in its infancy, and the Steelers are a hapless franchise that can never seem to break through. Highlights include the Packers fullbacks Johnny McNally and Clark Hinkle, as well as Ed Healey, hell on the field but off the nicest and most respectful man who ever lived.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews