This podcast episode delves into the remarkable achievements of Gene Roberts, a football player whose career is often overlooked yet exemplifies extraordinary talent across multiple leagues. We explore the serendipitous nature of his journey, from his early days in Kansas City to leading in scoring at both the collegiate and professional levels, including the NFL and Canadian football leagues. Roberts' story serves as a testament to the unpredictability of success within the sport, where a single individual can achieve the rare feat of being the highest scorer in three different football domains. We emphasize the significance of recognizing such historical figures, who, despite their obscurity, have contributed immensely to the fabric of football history. Join us as we unfold this compelling narrative, shedding light on the intricacies of football and the indelible marks left by its unsung heroes.

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

Well, once again, it's Tuesday and Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology is kindly joining us to explain some more football history. Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen. Glad to be here.

Glad to be here. And I'll try not to rush through this story.

Try not to rush it.

All right, well, that we're hoping you're going to be talking about rushing because the title of your tidbit that you.Plan on talking about is Gene Roberts Rushing Triple Crown. So sounds like a good running story here.

Yeah, it's actually kind of a bad title because it's not really that he had a rushing triple crown, he had a scoring triple crown.

Okay.

Yeah, that's kind of an error on my part, you know, so I'm not trying to score scoring laundry, but there it is.

Scoring is more interesting than rushing any day.

So, so, okay, so we talked about this maybe a couple weeks ago about, you know, kind of doinks and the opportunity of chance and how chance affects individual games, etc, and so I just always like, you know, stories and, you know, issues where it's like how the heck, you know, what are the chances that that's gonna happen? And so this is one of them. So it's about.

And he ends up going to Kansas on a football scholarship and there was, you know, no freshman eligibility at the time. So he's playing on the freshman team. But really from the moment he stepped on campus, people are like, this kid's special.

You know, it's, you know, every team experiences that nowadays with freshmen playing, but there's certain freshmen that just pop. And he was one of them. You know, he, in high school, he ran a 10, 8, 100 yard dash.

You know, the kid could move and, and he was like 190 pounds, which, you know, was pretty good sized, you know, kid for the time. But so he makes a really good impression.

Then sophomore year there was even like one of the Kansas City, you know, guys covering the team was saying, hey, he's a potential all big six, you know, now big 12.

But at the time, big six, he's an all potential all big six, you know, player this year as a sophomore, so high expectations, but he gets injured, doesn't play a whole lot, scores, you know, has a really nice, you Know, kind of flashy catch against Nebraska, gets td, but you know, that's about it. Doesn't really do that much. But he's also, you know, That's World War II going on.

He's in the Navy's V12 program at Kansas, you know, kind of officer training type stuff. And he ends up after his sophomore year, he joins the Navy, you know, as, you know, active service.

And then he gets mustered out in 45 in time to enroll in school for the 45 football season. And for whatever reason he transfers to University of Chattanooga.

And so again he's, you know, has a really solid season for them, Ends up playing as a junior, plays in a blue gray bowl or blue gray, you know, all star game.

And in the college all star game in Chicago, gets drafted by the Giants and first year he gets injured and then his third year in the NFL, he ends up leading the NFL in scoring and he's named all pro. So now he's led the NCAA in scoring in a season and he leads the NFL in scoring in a season.

The next year, his fourth year in the NFL, he sets a giant single game rushing record that I think at 218 yards, which I think it was, is it Kiki Barber or one of the Barber brothers, I think broke that record.

Tiki Barber played for Giants. Yeah.

So you know, it stood for quite a while. So. But for whatever reason, after that season, the Giants wave them.

Oh no, actually I treat him to Green Bay and he's like, I'm not going to Green Bay. So he signs with the Montreal Alouettes in the Inter Provincial Rugby Football Union.

So this is pre cfl, there was still the east teams and the west teams in Canada. And so he plays for them, doesn't really do much. They release him after the year and he signs with Ottawa and plays with them for three years.

It's like, what are the chances that one guy, you know, could lead ncaa, NFL and we'll just Call it the cfl, but, you know, Canadian pro football in, you know, four season in scoring, you know.

Yeah, that's, you know, amazing. I mean that's, that's the, the, the biggest stages you can play in football at that time, you know, that's, that's pretty cool.

Yeah. And you know, back then there, there were far fewer. So there weren't specialist kickers. Right.

You know, nowadays kickers typically lead the leagues in scoring because they make so many of them, they can kick them from so far.

But back then it was like Lou Groza, he was considered, you know, an absolute stud and he couldn't, he couldn't make a team nowadays, at least as a kicker, you know, just wasn't, couldn't kick him far enough and accurately enough, you know, because he used it all, you know, straight ahead technique. Right. So back then score. This leading score oftentimes was, oftentimes it was a, you know, a running back, sometimes a receiver who also kicked.

Right. Now he did it just. I don't think he kicked at all, you know, but he, I think he did it pretty much straight up on, on just scoring touchdowns.

So anyways, just, you know, this guy who wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like Jim Brown who just came in and just destroyed everybody, right? He was. Sometimes he had great seasons and other times he didn't. But he just happened three times to just.

Yeah, but he had a little bit of that. Something special. Special that, yeah, every now and then. Yeah.

That's an amazing story because that's somebody, you know, Know, I, I never heard of the guy until I read your piece and you know, I'm sure many of the listeners like you alluded to earlier never, never heard about them either.

And it's just, you know, amazing how you can go back and find, you know, these flashes in a bottle and really guys that were really important to football, you know, back in the 40s, in this case of, you know, in the 50s too, I think you talked about and you know, in multiple different leagues and levels and you know, somebody we should learn to appreciate because he's really part of the game and made it special.

Yeah, well, I mean, he's one of those guys. It's not like I sat down and said, hey, has anybody ever done this? Right?

I mean, instead it was one of those where I'm looking for one thing and the adjoining article, you know, says something about Gene Roberts and it's like, I don't know who this guy is. Let me, let me check into this guy. And A story emerges, you know, and it's actually really, I think, a really cool story.

Right? Yeah.

So it's, it's more the serendipity, you know, you just kind of come across things that you're not looking for and it's just kind of recognizing them and then, you know, trying to find enough information to make. Make a fun story out of it.

Yeah, you, you really got me thinking here.

Your last couple episodes and visits you've had with us here, including this one where you talked about, you know, how that by chance, how these things happen in the game of football. And I'm sitting there thinking, you know, football has got to be.

I know it's got the most complicated sports rule book in the world, but it probably has, you know, not only because of the expansive rules, but the variables that can happen on a football game because you have 22 men, each have an assignment, they each make mistakes or make great plays. You know, wind, weather, turf, you know, everything.

Fans, stadiums can affect the game and there's so many different outcomes that they're so hard to predict each play what's going to happen. But you get these amazing stories and amazing feats, you know, and some, like Gene Roberts that did some, some great things.

Yeah, I mean, you just, you just think about, just think about one passing play, like an outrup. You know, every offensive lineman has to block it correctly and, and not slip or not just get physically.

Yeah, you have the wrong size cleat on for the weather and then, you.

Know, ultimately quarterback is throwing that ball and if he just throws it just a tidbit too far, it's incomplete or,.

Or a little bit more to the.

Right or left, and there it is,.

You know, waits an extra split second, he's sacked, he, you know, it's amazing.

And then, you know, then there's also just absolutely unbelievably athletic plays where receivers are catching tipped balls and, you know, making these plays where they're able to get their feet down along the sideline. It's just the athleticism sometimes is just astounding. But, but it's really, you know, all those things all come into play, right?

Yeah.

Well, it's amazing and it gives some fodder for, for stories for people like you and me, especially you going and digging into, you know, antiquity and finding these great stories and these great tidbits that you share with us so often. Maybe you could tell people where they can experience some of your writing.

Sure.

Just go to footballarchaeology.com you can subscribe and if you do, you'll get an email with every new story that's published and the email will contain the story. If you don't want to get an email, then just bookmark the site and go and visit and check out, you know, new stuff and.

Or use the search box and search for past stories on kind of almost anything you can think of.

All right. Amazing. Football related.

Yeah, football related.

All right. Amazing stuff. As always, Tim, we really appreciate you coming and visiting and we'd love to talk to you again next week.

Okay, look forward to it.

That's all the football history we have today, folks. Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.

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