Timothy P. Brown has unearthed a significant historical first in American football, specifically concerning the illustrious Crescent Athletic Club. This episode delves into the life and work of the prominent sports writer Allison Danzig, who championed the revival of the Crescent Athletic Club in a 1921 article, advocating for opportunities for former college players to continue their football careers. Danzig's insights illuminate the evolving landscape of football during a period when the professional game was in its infancy, scarcely perceived as a viable path for athletes. We explore the implications of Danzig’s vision and the broader context of football's development, highlighting the transition from amateur to professional play. Join us as we navigate this intriguing facet of football history, revealing how perceptions and opportunities have transformed over the decades.

The conversation is based on Tim's recent article titled: Allison Danzig and the Crescent Athletic Club - https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/allison-danzig-and-the-crescent-athletic

⏰ Timecodes ⏰

00:09 Discovering Firsts in American Football

00:39 The Legacy of Allison Danzig

03:44 The Rise of Professional Football

07:57 The Rise of Professional Football

09:49 Exploring Football History

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A profound exploration of American football's origins and its intricate historical narratives unfolds in this episode, featuring insights from Timothy P. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com. The focus is primarily on Allison Danzig, a prominent sports writer whose writings encapsulated the sentiments and challenges of the early 20th century sports landscape. In particular, Danzig's call for a revival of the Crescent Athletic Club in 1921 serves as a poignant reminder of the transitional phase of American football following World War I. This club, once a powerhouse comprised of elite collegiate athletes, represents a significant chapter in the history of amateur athletics, highlighting the struggle to maintain competitive relevance amidst the burgeoning professionalization of the sport.

The discussion navigates through the historical context of Danzig's advocacy, revealing how the post-war era presented unique challenges for former collegiate players who sought to continue their football careers. The Crescent Athletic Club, with its roster of talented athletes from esteemed institutions, faced an uphill battle against the established collegiate teams, which often overshadowed their efforts. This dynamic not only reflects the competitive landscape of the time but also underscores the cultural attitudes towards professional athletics, as many, including Danzig, could not foresee the monumental rise of the NFL and its transformation into a dominant force in American sports culture.

As the speakers delve deeper into the implications of Danzig's writings, they highlight the broader societal transformations that influenced the evolution of football. The conversation culminates in an exploration of how the NFL's eventual rise to prominence was catalyzed by various factors, including the advent of television and changing public perceptions of professional athletics. This episode serves as a valuable reminder of the rich tapestry of history that has shaped American football, inviting listeners to appreciate the complexities and narratives that have contributed to the sport's enduring legacy.

In American football history, there's a first time for everything. And it's really special when somebody digs in and finds a first time that maybe we hadn't heard of.

Timothy p. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com has found another first in football. It's significant, and I'm gonna let Tim tell you all about it. Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Darin. Look forward to chatting and just want to say that Allison Danzig was a writer who struggled with his prose.

Oh, boy. Oh, gosh. We might have to take a station break here after that one. We might be banned. But.

But Tim has written a tidbit recently on the author Allison Danzig, and a great football historian. It's called Allison Danzig and the Crescent Athletic Club.

So, really, you got two great pieces of history here and just in the title, and we'd love to hear what this story is about.

Yeah, well, so, you know, we talked about some of this last week where, you know, there were the way football has evolved. People in an earlier period could not have imagined that happening. They. They could not have foreseen the evolution.

You know, last week you talked about penalties and how those evolved. But here the issue is. So Allison Danzig was, you know, a top sports writer, wrote for the Brooklyn Eagle and New York times for, like, 45 years.

You know, so. But he was probably best known for tennis, but he covered a lot of football, too. And, you know, he wrote an article that caught my eye.

So, you know, maybe that had something to do with him raising this issue.

I can't remember the name of it, but. And then. Then it kind of faded away. Right. But it was.

The Crescent team was mostly made up of former Yale players who were, you know, working on Wall street or whatever they were doing in the New York area. But they had a bunch of Princeton Guys too. And then the Orange Athletic Club was their rival and they were over in New Jersey.

And then, you know, they, but they play Harvard and Yale and other teams, Princeton sometimes, Penn sometimes. So they, they play a very competitive schedule.

Typically they'd lose to the college teams and at the time they, they kind of, I think the guys just weren't in as good a shape as the college players was part of it. They didn't practice as much. And you know, so, you know, that kind of led to this belief that, you know, football's a college game.

You're never really going to have guys continuing to play for all that long because they're just, they get too old, right. They get 25 or something.

And so anyway, so he writes this piece in 21 kind of said, wouldn't it be great if somebody would develop, would recreate the, you know, the Crescent AC and some other team, you know, because they got to play somebody. But it would be so cool because these former college greats would have a chance to play.

And so he wrote that piece and it's just very clear that he could not have conceived of professional football developing.

It's a rinky dink little.

So there's a lot of professional teams though, you know, a lot of localized teams, especially on East Coast.

And Green Bay was a rinky dink little town then still kind of is Hammond, Indiana, Onawanda and Muncie, Indiana. So, you know, these are not thriving metropolises, right?

I mean, there was a lot of rinky dink outfits, guys moving from team to team and just, you know, they, they wouldn't practice during the week because they all had jobs and they'd show up Saturday afternoon or something, maybe run around a little bit, you know. So anyways, you know, the point is that here's this a guy who's as well informed as anybody in the football world.

If he's a writing about football for the New York Times.

He's, you know, he's got, he's got a sense of the game and he just can't conceive that this, you know, this AAPC or NFL or whatever it was called that year was ever going to amount to apfa yeah, whatever, you know, so I mean, but that's, I mean to me that's the interesting story that he just cannot conceive of it, you know, because at that time you had, you know, you had these early NFL teams, you had other Pennsylvania, Ohio League teams, but like on the west coast the best football post college was, you know, Athletic Club teams. You know, you had. What's the guys in now? I'm blanking on the name. The guys in, in Portland you had the Olympic Club.

In San Francisco, you know, there were others but you know, those were the best. And then a lot of military teams still, you know, they'd, they draw sell out crowds for the Armistice Day games and for the President's cup games.

And those are in big, you know, big time cities, you know, so 50, 60, you know, thousand people for, for some of those games. Anyways, I just think it's so, you know, it's like even into World War II there were still people who discounted the professional game.

And, and it's really not until the 60s where it really takes off and supersedes, you know, the college game.

You know, I mean, as much as we talk about stars of the 50s, you know, in, in the NFL, it was, you know, I mean, go look at newspapers and see the coverage of NFL games in their home cities.

So anyways, I just, you know, to us the NFL is such an impressive, you know, enterprise and it's just, you know, it definitely is the leading, you know, source of football today, but it.

Definitely got catapulted by television.

But yeah, yeah, yeah, the colleges were, they were just too, too afraid to embrace television because it took away from paid attendance and they love it now a little bit.

TV revenue now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, They've had a change of heart.

Right, and change of checkbook too, and savings account. All right, well, that is some great stuff. You know, that's something that I would never have imagined that even somebody with, with the NFL.

You know, I understand it was, wasn't too much on the east coast, but still there was a lot of professional teams, but especially somebody reputable like Allison Danzig stating that.

And you find these little, you know, trinkets of, of history that have been long forgotten and you bring them new life and bring them to our modern ears. And how can people take in some of this information that you, you put out there?

Yep, just go to footballarchaeology.com it's a substack site so you can, you can subscribe, in which case you'll get an email every time I publish a story or just bookmark it. Come visit when you want, use the search function.

And then and also, you know, I've got books available on Amazon too, so if you want to do a deep dive on a couple of selected topics, so.

All right, Tim. Well, we appreciate it and we would love to talk to you again next week about some more great football history.

Look forward to it.

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