Ninety years ago, in 1936, American football underwent transformative developments that continue to resonate within the sport today. This episode provides a comprehensive examination of the pivotal events of that year, encompassing both college and professional football. We delve into significant occurrences, such as the inaugural NFL draft, where the Philadelphia Eagles selected Jay Burwanger, the first Heisman Trophy winner, thereby establishing a precedent for future drafts. Furthermore, we highlight the remarkable triumph of the Stanford Valboys in the 22nd Rose Bowl, a defining moment in collegiate athletics. As we traverse this remarkable year, we invite listeners to appreciate the foundational changes that have shaped the evolution of football in America.

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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.

Takeaways:

• The year 1936 was monumental in the history of American football, impacting both college and professional levels significantly.
• The introduction of the first NFL draft in 1936 revolutionized player selection and team strategies in American football.
• Stanford's Valboys, a group of dedicated players, achieved their vow of defeating rival teams during the 1936 season.
• The inaugural Associated Press writers poll introduced a new method of ranking football teams, emphasizing human judgment over mathematical formulas.
• Larry Kelly of Yale became the first winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1936, marking a significant milestone in collegiate football.
• The Green Bay Packers secured their first NFL championship victory in 1936, defeating the Boston Redskins in a neutral-site game.

Very impactful in both of those levels of football.

Now, now, I'm Darren Hayes.

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It was the end of the 35 season, but the 22nd Rose bowl game featured the the Stanford Valboys.

Now, if you're not familiar with the story of the Valboys, we have multiple stories on pigskindispatch.com but basically the Valboys were a group of Stanford Indians.

Yes, they were the Stanford Indians back then that played football together.

They just had a lot of fun together.

They were very close and they made a vow to each other that they, when they were freshmen, I think they were like, when they couldn't play, they witnessed their team, the varsity team, getting defeated by USC and Cal, the two big rivals.

The big game against Cal, of course.

And USC was a big rival too, back then.

So they've made a vow that during their playing days at Stanford, they would not lose to USC or Cal.

And they made good on it.

And one of those games was the 22nd Rose Bowl.

The Valboys played SMU.

They had already beaten Cal.

They had already beaten USC, had earned the right to represent the west coast in the the rose bowl, the 22nd Rose Bowl.

And they ended up beating Southern Methodist University 7 to nothing in a game that featured both teams hailing from west of the Mississippi.

First time that that happened that was not in wartime.

So that's a very significant event there.

And so the Valvoys continued on in that march of keeping their promise.

Then a month later, a little over A month later, 2-8-19, the very first national Football League draft takes place.

The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia.

The Eagles whose owner was Burt Bell, who basically, according to many accounts, including Burt Bell's son Upton, who we've had on this program, it was Burt Bell's idea to have the draft.

You know, back then, you know, you just was.

It was a free for all as free agency basically all the time.

The teams with the deeper pockets got the players.

You know, the Bears and the Giants of the world got almost anybody they wanted.

You know, teams like Green Bay was struggling, having to get innovative.

Pittsburgh, Philadelphia were newer teams, only three years in Washington struggling to get these players.

So the Eagles ended up proposing this.

You know, Burt Bell of the Eagles owner proposes, you know, the worst team from the year prior gets the first pick.

And so on the way we do it now, it spread to all American sports.

The Eagles ended up selecting Jay Burwanger of the University of Chicago with a first pick.

So bunch of firsts going on here.

So the first draft pick is the first Heisman winner, basically to the Eagles, who were the team that suggested that so very important items there.

And it was, you know, this is only the third time that the title game had been played in a short history.

But the college stars came up and they, they were a tough exhibition.

You know, remember the first AFL was the Red Grange League.

A decade later, the second AFL comes about and the Los Angeles Bulldogs defeated the Pittsburgh Americans 21 to nothing in the very first game of that second edition of the AFL.

September 28th that year, Boston Redskins and the Brooklyn Dodgers played an NFL game that did not have a single penalty in that and the Redskins prevailed in a penalty free contest 30 to 6.

According to profootball reference.com the Yale kick controversy happened in this.

We had a great story on that not too long ago on one of our YouTube shorts in memorial State in Baltimore, Maryland, Yale took on the undefeated Navy Shipman.

And during a loose ball play, Yale and Larry Kelly's foot struck the ball so sending it towards the Navy goal line where the Eli recovered it at the two yard line setting up the go ahead score.

12 To 7 Yale victory.

And it may have propelled Kelly to winning the Heisman that year.

Another very important item before that they had like the Dickinson system and some, the Holgate system and some of the other ones where you would use mathematical formulas to try to figure out who the top team was and all that jazz.

But now they're having actual people vote on that and the writers that are covering the games.

October 31st that year at the Polo Grounds, the infamous seven blocks of granite.

The, you know, playing for the Fordham Rams defended their New York City turf against the powerful Pit Panthers in an instant classic.

We have that full story on that 36 Fordham Pit game on there.

Some really exciting stuff.

You can check that on our timeline.

Pitt and Penn State squared off on the gridiron later.

November 7th that year Panthers won 347 in the Steel City.

They played, you know, played some other games.

They ended up being number five ranked a week later and beat number six Nebraska 196 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

So that was a big game then.

You know, Larry Kelly we mentioned earlier of Yale won the Downtown Athletic Club's Heisman trophy award.

The first year it was called the Heisman Trophy.

The Sarnia Imperials defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 26 to 20 for Sarnia's second championship banner.

Back then you didn't have to be a pro team.

They didn't have the Canadian Football League back then.

It was just the best teams of the west playing the best Teams east in the great country of Canada.

On the 13th of that year at the Polo Grounds, the Green Bay packers secured their first ever National Football League championship game win against the Boston Redskins.

It was Boston's final game before they moved to Washington, D.C. the packers decisive 216 victory stemmed from Arnie Erber's passing and Don Hudson catching one of those touchdown passes and Milt Gatenbein grabbed another.

But it was interesting about that we had a YouTube short on this that, you know, the George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Redskins, very perturbed with the city of Boston at that point.

You know, he had the home field advantage.

He asked the NFL to move the game to the Polo Grounds in New York City to play the Packers.

That's why it was sort of played on a neutral site.

And of course they get hammered 21 to 6 by the Packers.

They get that first championship game win to win the NFL title in that.

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