What draws you to football/football history?

[jefferyepayne]

For whatever reason football has always been my favorite major sport. As a kid, I was a voracious reader and read every football book in both my elementary and middle school libraries. That's probably what hooked me on the history of the game. It was awesome to read about Thorpe, Grange, Nevers, Nagurski, Friedman and all the other great stars from the early days of the NFL. Not to mention the memorable NFL games like the Sneaker Game, the Ice Bowl, the Greatest Game Ever Played, the Bears beating the Redskins 73-0, etc.

As I got older I realized that professional football started looong before the NFL and I got interested in pro stars and pro teams that existed between 1892 - 1919. This era has been all but forgotten in history but the teams and players in this time period are the true pioneers of the professional game.

Helping to preserve and document the history of the sport has become a passion of mine. I love nothing better than finding an interesting piece of football memorabilia, digging into it to find out what I can learn about it, and writing my findings up to share with others.

What a great hobby this is!

jeff

[AFLfan]

I grew up as a baseball collector, but while I was in graduate school I interned for the San Diego Chargers, cleaning up their photo archive. At that time I decided to write my thesis on Sid Gillman, the Chargers first head coach. It was interviewing Sid and his former players that first sparked my interest in the AFL. Since then I have written a couple of books about the Chargers (one AFL, one Coryell era), put together my AFL website, and while they were still in SD, I did a lot of contract work for the Chargers. It was all history-based stuff, a lot dealing with the AFL.

I am drawn to the social aspects of football. I'm fascinated by stories of the AFL boycott and other issues that came about during the Civil Rights Era. I love the story of the underdog AFL taking on the NFL and forcing a merger. I love that the players were just guys, who assimilated into the community with off-season jobs, and were not the whacked out prima donnas that we read about so often with modern athletes.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by AFLfan

I grew up as a baseball collector, but while I was in graduate school I interned for the San Diego Chargers, cleaning up their photo archive. At that time I decided to write my thesis on Sid Gillman, the Chargers first head coach. It was interviewing Sid and his former players that first sparked my interest in the AFL. Since then I have written a couple of books about the Chargers (one AFL, one Coryell era), put together my AFL website, and while they were still in SD, I did a lot of contract work for the Chargers. It was all history-based stuff, a lot dealing with the AFL.

I am drawn to the social aspects of football. I'm fascinated by stories of the AFL boycott and other issues that came about during the Civil Rights Era. I love the story of the underdog AFL taking on the NFL and forcing a merger. I love that the players were just guys, who assimilated into the community with off-season jobs, and were not the whacked out prima donnas that we read about so often with modern athletes.

While your AFL auto sets are completely awesome, I'm still in awe that you figured out how to write a Master's Thesis on football, Todd! That is incredible. I wish I was that smart ... my thesis was on a bunch of technical gobblygook and would have rather written about Thorpe or something LOL.

jeff

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

While your AFL auto sets are completely awesome, I'm still in awe that you figured out how to write a Master's Thesis on football, Todd! That is incredible. I wish I was that smart ... my thesis was on a bunch of technical gobblygook and would have rather written about Thorpe or something LOL.

jeff

÷1000! Sid Gillman is a much better topic than anything I ever wrote about!

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[AFLfan]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

While your AFL auto sets are completely awesome, I'm still in awe that you figured out how to write a Master's Thesis on football, Todd! That is incredible. I wish I was that smart ... my thesis was on a bunch of technical gobblygook and would have rather written about Thorpe or something LOL.

jeff

Haha. Next time we're together, remind me to tell you about how I got into grad school in the first place. I was actually recruited in to write about baseball. Then when that didn't work out, I got the Chargers gig.

It has been an interesting way to make a living. Sometimes flush, other times not. But it has put me in some interesting situations, and given me the opportunity to do some neat things, and certainly expand my collection in ways that are not available to most people.

At the same time, I think that being so close to a lot of it has been a major contributing factor in my total disdain for contemporary professional sports. My love for professional athletes is all memory and research-based. I don't really watch any live sports beyond my kids and their friends playing lacrosse, or football, basketball, etc., for their youth leagues or high schools. Though I do get a great deal of joy out of that.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by AFLfan

I grew up as a baseball collector, but while I was in graduate school I interned for the San Diego Chargers, cleaning up their photo archive. At that time I decided to write my thesis on Sid Gillman, the Chargers first head coach. It was interviewing Sid and his former players that first sparked my interest in the AFL. Since then I have written a couple of books about the Chargers (one AFL, one Coryell era), put together my AFL website, and while they were still in SD, I did a lot of contract work for the Chargers. It was all history-based stuff, a lot dealing with the AFL.

I am drawn to the social aspects of football. I'm fascinated by stories of the AFL boycott and other issues that came about during the Civil Rights Era. I love the story of the underdog AFL taking on the NFL and forcing a merger. I love that the players were just guys, who assimilated into the community with off-season jobs, and were not the whacked out prima donnas that we read about so often with modern athletes.

Todd, interning for the Chargers?! I am trying extremely hard to not let my awe and sheer envy get the best of me! That was my childhood team (I still can't quite stop myself from keeping up with them even now despite the fact that I stay furious with that franchise ). What an opportunity to be around those guys and the AFL. One of my favorite aspects of the AFL is that it provided opportunities to soooo many players who would have never gotten a sniff by the NFL. These were guys in a lot of cases from small colleges who had serious talent.

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[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

Todd, interning for the Chargers?! I am trying extremely hard to not let my awe and sheer envy get the best of me! That was my childhood team (I still can't quite stop myself from keeping up with them even now despite the fact that I stay furious with that franchise ). What an opportunity to be around those guys and the AFL. One of my favorite aspects of the AFL is that it provided opportunities to soooo many players who would have never gotten a sniff by the NFL. These were guys in a lot of cases from small colleges who had serious talent.

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Yeah, Todd's been living the dream for decades ...

jeff

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Yeah, Todd's been living the dream for decades ...

jeff

That's the truth! Interning for the Chargers! Had I known about it then, I could have lived vicariously through him! Not to mention all the pics and autographs I would have begged him to get for me. Although my Chargers collection isn't as large as my fandom has been over the years, they were a driving force in my love of football.

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[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

That's the truth! Interning for the Chargers! Had I known about it then, I could have lived vicariously through him! Not to mention all the pics and autographs I would have begged him to get for me. Although my Chargers collection isn't as large as my fandom has been over the years, they were a driving force in my love of football.

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You mean like this, Robert?



P.S. Thanks Todd!

jeff

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

You mean like this, Robert?



P.S. Thanks Todd!

jeff

Ha! Rub it in...LOL! I actually have that SI, it is just unsigned Great piece. Maybe Todd has a few excess Chargers items from that period he might part with?? Over the years, I have considered collecting everything Chargers, but somehow I just never did it. I have the dual connection to Bambi in that he was a Razorback and a Charger, my two teams. This really tempts me....

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