Football Urban Legends History

Here are quick descriptions of each of the previous editions of Football Urban Legends Revealed.

To see if they are true or false, you have to click on the link!

1. The NFL tried to trademark “The Big Game.”

2. Pat Summerall got the nickname “Pat” from his job as a placekicker

3. A paternity test was done on George Gipp – almost seventy-seven years after he died!

4. Ryan Fitzpatrick scored a perfect 50 on his Wonderlic test.

5. The Steelers and the Eagles combined teams for a season.

6. The Super Bowl is named after the Super Ball.

7. A player played professional football under an assumed name so that he could play college football, as well!

8. Kurt Warner refused to appear on the cover of an issue of Sports Illustrated about the supposed “Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.”

9. In back-to-back years, two separate Canadian football teams drafted dead players.

10. The Governor of Colorado lost Pike’s Peak to Texas in a football bet.

11. President Nixon called a play in a Washington Redskins playoff game.

12. Bo Schembechler owned a Domino’s Pizza franchise in Columbus, Ohio during the 1980s

13. The New York Giants originated the “Gatorade shower.”

14. The NFL changed the rules for extra points during the 1940 NFL Championship Game because they were running out of footballs.

15. Hall of Fame coach George Allen was killed by a Gatorade Shower

16. Edgar Allan Poe played an early form of football

17. Two Detroit Lions recorded a Gold Record while still playing in the NFL

18. The owners of the Eagles and the Steelers actually TRADED franchises.

19. A player shouted “This one is for the Gipper” when he won a game for Notre Dame after Knute Rockne’s famous “Win one for the Gipper” halftime speech

20. The bloody Y.A. Tittle photograph, one of the famous images in NFL history, never appeared in a newspaper when it was first taken

21. The second half kick-off in the first Super Bowl was re-played because NBC missed it coming back from commercial.

22. Pamela Anderson’s big break came when she was shown on the Jumbotron at a football game

23. Monster Cable sued the Chicago Bears over the phrase “Monsters of the Midway”

24. The Steelers chose Mike Tomlin as their Head Coach over Ken Whisenhunt

25. An injured NFL rookie almost destroyed the entire NFL draft system

26. A player suffered a career ending injury walking back from a coin toss.

27. One of the most prominent “Mr. Irrelevant”s was still irrelevant enough that his team misspelled his name on his jersey when he became their starting quarterback!

28. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers accidentally drafted the wrong player in the first round of the 1982 NFL Draft.

29. The Steeers and the Rams both tried to get the final pick in the 1979 NFL Draft, forcing the commissioner to institute a new rule for the draft.

30. A team drafted the wrong player because two top prospects had similar sounding names.

31. A team dropped two spots in the draft because they missed their initial pick.

32. An NFL team once drafted John Wayne when he was 63 years old.

33. Gino Marchetti won the 1958 NFL MVP Award.

34. Fresno State wears a “V” on their helmets as in “V for Victory”

35. Ohio State once gave up a touchdown…to its own player!

36. Sun Devil Stadium had an extreme makeover when Pope John Paul II came to visit during the 1980s.

37. Ole Miss changed the speed limit around campus in honor of former Ole Miss great Archie Manning.

38. NBC sent an employee running on to the field to delay the 1958 National Football League Championship because they had lost the TV signal.

39. The Saints got their name because they were founded on All Saint’s Day.

40. The Saints’ field caught fire in the middle of a game!

41. The kicker who held the NFL record for longest field goal for four decades inspired the NFL to come up with a new rule because of the special shoes he wore due to having no toes on his kicking foot!

42. The deed to Kenan Memorial Stadium required that the stadium never rise above the pine trees that surround the stadium.

43. Vince Lombardi traded a player five minutes after learning the player had hired an agent to represent him in contract negotiations with the Packers.

44. A $1 investment by a team manager eventually turned into 10% of the Minnesota vikings.

45. A future Hall of Famer was drafted in the last round of the 1934 NFL Draft based on the sound of his name!

46. Jack Lambert was ejected from a game for “hitting a quarterback too hard.”

47. The Washington Redskins used to be the Duluth Eskimos.

48. Stanford University’s students voted for the school’s mascot (and team names) be “Robber Barons.”

49. Pamela Anderson got her big break when caught by a TV camera at a Canadian Football game.

50. The Cardinals got their name from the faded used jerseys they wore.

51. A waived player once pulled a gun on his general manager.

52. The annual Army-Navy Game drew two separate U.S. Presidents directly into the planning of the game and, ultimately, the future of football itself.

Ta da!

One Response to “Football Urban Legends History”

  1. […] Be certain to check out some-more football legends during Sports Legends Revealed here. […]

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