This episode delves into the recent activities surrounding the NFL draft and the annual meeting of the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) held in Western New York. I recount my experiences at the Pop Warner Museum, where I encountered various attendees, including notable figures such as Mark Kelso, a former player for the Buffalo Bills. The conversation with Mr. Kelso not only highlighted his contributions to the game but also underscored the importance of camaraderie in football history. Additionally, we feature insights from Todd Schmidt of NFL Films, who elaborates on the art of storytelling within football documentaries. The episode culminates in a discussion about significant historical football games played at Yankee Stadium, enhancing our appreciation for the rich tapestry of American football history.

Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.

Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

Do you want more football history? Test your Gridiron Knowledge, we feed you Daily with our new FREE activity, The Pigskin Trivia Drive.

Grab a copy of our latest book, "Marooned," on the 1925 Pottsville Maroons NFL franchise saga.

*OR* Grab a copy of our book on Western Pennsylvania football history, "World's Greatest Gridiron Team" on the 1903 Franklin All-Stars

Drop us a line at PigskinDispatch@gmail .com and check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel.

Contact us directly at PigskinDispatch@Gmail.com

Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

The latest installment of the Pig Pen podcast delves into the recent activities surrounding the world of football, particularly as it pertains to the NFL draft and the annual meeting of the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA). The host, Darren Hayes, provides an insightful overview of the events that unfolded during this whirlwind period in football history, highlighting the significance of the NFL draft and its implications for teams and players alike. He recounts his experiences at the PFRA's meeting, emphasizing the camaraderie shared among enthusiasts and researchers of the game. A notable highlight is his visit to the Pop Warner Museum, which serves as a repository of rich football history and Americana, featuring new exhibits from Pop Warner's collection that illuminate the evolution of the sport. The podcast not only captures the essence of the events but also serves as a tribute to the enduring legacy of American football and its historical figures, inviting listeners to appreciate the depth of the sport's narrative.

Furthermore, the podcast offers a unique anecdote regarding Hayes' unexpected encounter with Mark Kelso, a former NFL player known for his contributions to the Buffalo Bills during their Super Bowl years. This personal exchange not only humanizes the narrative but also exemplifies the connections forged through a shared passion for football. The dialogue extends beyond mere pleasantries, delving into discussions of football history and the impact of innovations such as the pro cap, a helmet enhancement introduced during Kelso's career. Such interactions underscore the community aspect of football, where fans and former players alike exchange stories that contribute to the broader tapestry of the sport's history.

In addition to these personal narratives, the episode features contributions from various guests, including Todd Schmidt from NFL Films, who provides an insider’s perspective on the art of producing compelling football documentaries. The podcast elaborates on the importance of storytelling in sports, examining how the emotional and human elements of football are captured through film. Hayes also acknowledges the contributions of other historians and former players who attended the PFRA meeting, further enriching the discussion with their insights into the past and present of the sport. This multifaceted approach not only informs but also engages the audience, encouraging them to delve deeper into football's storied past and its continuing evolution.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And we have had really a whirlwind of football here in the last week and a half.

The NFL draft just got over with, you know, about a week and a half ago.

And that same weekend we had the Professional Football Researchers Association, Western New York chapter had their annual meeting.

And you know, our buddy Jeff Miller and company really runs a great show.

This is the 10th annual one that we've had up there in Western York.

And once again, it was like the third or fourth year in a row they've had it in Springville, New York, the home of Pop Warner.

So one of the great highlights of going up there every year is going to the Pop Warner Museum, which is just about a hop, skip and a jump away from the venue where the meetings are held.

And they folks at the museum always put on a great display and they actually have some new exhibits there this year from Pop Warner's personal collection.

Pop Warner donated the house and many of the items that are in this old house that's been turned into a museum really tells the story of not only American football history through Pop Warner's eyes, but a lot of Americana and the history of Springville and, and western New York as well.

So really interesting place.

You ever get a chance to visit that.

I'll plug it all the way because it's a great place.

But I had a kind of an interesting time while actually we were in a museum because we spent probably an hour in there and I noticed there's usually a bunch of different people, some every year that I am not familiar with.

Well, some old friends that we get to see every year and have our annual handshake and pat on the back and even a hug or two and talk some football history.

But this one gentleman I didn't recognize, recognize, but he had a nice green Notre Dame sweatshirt on over at the Pop Warner Museum and he was looking at an exhibit that was real close to the one I was looking at.

And I just made comment that I was a Notre Dame fan.

And you know, this is just a couple days after, you know, Julian Love and Jadarian Price were drafted in the first round as running backs.

Former Notre Dame.

And so we had a nice little chat on Notre Dame football and, you know, some other other things in football history.

10, 15 Minute talk.

And he even fixed my collar.

It was raining out and I had a jacket on and threw it on abruptly.

And I Had the collar, my jacket was tucked under on one side.

And he straightened me out a little bit.

I thanked him and I walked away from the stranger.

And one of my friends that as I walked away said, hey, you were just talking to one of our guest speakers today, Mark Kelso.

He was a defensive back and he was famous for he got some concussions early on in his career.

So the last few years of his career, actually a company right in the area I live in, an inventor, invented the pro cap, which is sort of a mushroom shaped piece of padding that goes over the top of the helmet.

And as you know, we know the Guardian caps today, well, that was sort of the predecessor of that.

So I went up to, to Mr. Kelso later and apologized.

Mark, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you.

You said your name was Mark to me, but I, I didn't put two and two together.

You know, it's been many years since he's played and everything, but you know, we had a great conversation, he had a laugh and he, you know, we had some more chats, more on a more personal level, talking about family and stuff.

And really nice guy, does not like to do podcasts though.

So we honor that and respect that.

But you know, salute to a great legend.

We also had another great guest, you know, among others, we had Todd Schmidt from NFL Films who gave us some really some insight into producing one of the great NFL films from the music, the storyline, the great writing and you know, the descriptive wording that they have in these things to the great action shots and what really the basis of what the Sables put NFL films on the map for.

They're still trying to do that today to just show us a little bit different side of football other than, you know, far away and seeing as player shots, they want to see a tear in the eye or you know, a smirk on somebody's face or that odd comment that's on the sideline or in a huddle.

And that was just great.

So Mr. Schmidt did a great job too.

We also had visitors from not only our own internal folks like Mike Richmond, a fellow PFRA historian who has been on this program multiple times to talk about the Washington Redskins.

And he had another great topical Washington Commanders Redskins story for us today.

We had some family members from the Nesser, the Nesser brothers from the Columbus Panhandles and Pro Football hall of Fame and the Akron Pros, the first championship team of the NFL as well as some other great folks.

Buffalo Bills Alumni association president Jeff Nixon spoke to us.

George Bozicka, the president of the PFRA told us some of the happenings there and some great stories as well.

And we had a member of the former member of the Buffalo Jill's cheerleading squad that had some great insight on her and her experiences with the NFL team and that.

And we just had a slew of other great guests that talked and told us some great football history.

So if you ever get a chance to join the PFRA, pfra.org or professional football Research association on your Google search and join a membership and join your local chapter.

They have them all over the country.

And you get to maybe meet a famous person like you know, Mark Kelso or Jeff Nixon who played ball or maybe some other interesting people like Todd Schmidt or our young lady that was with the Buffalo Jills once upon a time.

Great experiences all in all there.

And we have a little bit of football history for you today.

We're releasing this on May 5th and May 5th.

If you remember, we did a show on this years ago about the great building of Yankee Stadium.

And there are 10 very notable games that we borrowed from major league baseball.com to talk about this.

Grambling coach Eddie Robinson was on the sideline for this one and showed a little bit of disappointment in the loss when his Grambling State squad fell to Central State.

Back in, you know, before the Pinstripe bowl was going on, the last Gotham bowl, that was the New York City bowl game.

They had holiday bowl game.

Nebraska defeated Miami 36 to 34.

I'm sorry.

What a barn burner that had to be.

In the final edition of the Gotham Bow was George Myra who tossed for 321 yards and two touchdowns.

Fans really didn't turn out so well because it was 14 degree temperatures on at kickoff.

That's why they did away with it.

But man, you're scoring, you know, almost 70 points in 14 degree temperatures.

The teams were definitely playing some ball.

Now we had Jerry Kramer kick a ball for our eighth spot.

Jerry Kramer, Green Bay packers, was a guard.

Had three field goals in a game to secure a 167 victory for the packers over the New York Giants at Yankee stadium.

Now a little bit of a tarnished granite is our seventh pick.

We talked about back on our April 24th show.

Ed Franco had was a member of Fordham Seven Blocks of Granite.

Future hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi was also on that line for Fordham.

The Fordham Rams seven blocks of granite.

End quote.

The Rams needed one win for Rose bowl birth, but alas, they fell to New York University by the score of 7 to 6 on a muddy and Yankee Stadium turf on Thanksgiving Day, dropping them from number three to number 15 in the final AP rankings of the year.

Did not get to go to the Rose bowl that season.

Our sixth greatest game played is the Tittleman title.

Tittle from the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for guard Lou Cordelion.

Now the fifth spot is ice, ice, baby.

The game is famous for being played on an icy field where the Giants wore sneakers reminiscent of 22 years earlier when the same New York Giants wor tennis shoes to play on an icy Polo Grounds turf that became known as the Sneakers Game.

Up to number four.

How about Pat Summerall's boot?

Pat Summerall.

The voice that had sent many Sundays echoing through all of our living rooms.

He missed a 31 yard field goal earlier, but made up for with his clutch kick the following week.

Newark defeated Cleveland 10 nothing.

Number three game at Yankee Stadium was what a tackle.

It was a 00 tie made legendary by Johnny Lujak's well chronicled saving tackle of army Star Running Backs Mr.

Inside Doc Blanch late in that contest.

Well the Gipper game comes in at number two.

George the Gipper Gip was the first team All American at Notre Dame before dying at age 25 of a deadly throat infection Just days after leading Notre Dame to a win over Northwestern.

Allegedly while he was on his hospital deathbed, he received a visit from coach Knute Rockne sometime in the future.

At a halftime of a scoreless game, Rockne seized the moment to use the wishes of his dying player as a basis for an inspirational speech urging his squad to to win it for the Gipper.

And the Irish went on to beat Army 126 at Yankee Stadium.

The number one game is the greatest game ever played.

It was the first NFL game to go into the new sudden death overtime rule.

It was a national television audience saw the Colts receiver Raymond Berry catched 12 passes in a game setting a championship game record with 178 yards and a score in a game that signaled the beginning of the National Football League surge in popularity because TV is king for the NFL.

And that's our history little lesson today.

Sorry to Repeat that on May 5th but also wanted to fill you in the stories of what I did on draft weekend besides the draft being here in Western Pennsylvania.

Well, I hope you had a great weekend, hope you had a great week and we have some great episodes coming up for you today and in the rest of this week we have lots of stuff on our pigskin dispatch YouTube channel come out some a lot of short stories.

Our visit with Timothy P. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com A great show on the USFL steamboat.

So if you missed that the other day, Keith Wood has wrote a great book about them and talking about some of the great football history and don't forget to try out our games.

We have the Pigskin Trivia Drive game interactive football trivia game where you have control of moving the ball down the field.

Tried to score as many points as you can in five minutes and we have another special game coming up for you real soon.

Some other special treats on football history.

Until next time.

Everybody have a great gridiron day.

Peeking up at the clock, the time's running down.

We're going to go into victory formation.

Take a knee and let this baby run out.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you back tomorrow for the next podcast we we invite you to check out our website, pigskindispatch.com not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of the game as well as our own football comic strip, clete marks comics.

Pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and don't forget the PigSkind Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history.

Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.

This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.

You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.