Archive - Football Archaeology

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Lack of Uniformity

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast’s Darin Hayes and I discuss the days when team uniforms often did not match.

8 hrs ago • Football Archaeology

Today’s Tidbit... Best Practices in Mid-1950s Uniform Laundering

Since football began, uniforms have become dirty and required laundering. Here's how Rawlings suggested handling the process in the 1950s.

Jan 5 • Football Archaeology

Eddie Eagan: College Football Player, and Summer and Winter Olympian

Eddie Eagan earned a boxing gold medal while sliding into a bobsledding gold, and he played college football.

Jan 4 • Football Archaeology

Inflating Footballs, the Adjacent Possible, and Progress

It took longer than you might expect for use to use valves to inflated balls, and even longer for the familiar need to start poking around.

Jan 1 • Football Archaeology

December 2025

Today's Tidbit... The 1920 Rose Bowl Parade

A stroll down memory lane at the 1920 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Dec 31, 2025 • Football Archaeology

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast... Pulling the Wool Over Harvard's Eyes

Pigskin Dispatch Podcast’s Darin Hayes and I discuss Harvard’s 1936 Rose Bowl invitation, a year in which they went 3 and 6.

Dec 30, 2025 • Football Archaeology

Gridiron Greats Book Review: When Football Came To Pass

Bob Swick, the publisher of Gridiron Greats magazine, reviews When Football Came to Pass in the Winter 2025 issue.

Dec 30, 2025 • Football Archaeology

Today's Tidbit... 1914 Moses Brown School Playbook

The 1914 Moses Brown School playbook shows that some elements of football remain the same, while others are quite different.

Dec 28, 2025 • Football Archaeology

The Eye of the Beholder: The 1971 Spanjian Catalog - Other Sports

The 1971 Spanjian catalog offered not only football uniforms, but also covered six other sports

Dec 27, 2025 • Football Archaeology

The Eye of the Beholder: The 1971 Spanjian Catalog - Warmups, Parkas, and Coaching Gear

Parkas and warmups were critical football gear in colder climes, and coaches who dressed in style were sure to win a few more games per year.

Dec 26, 2025 • Football Archaeology

The Eye of the Beholder: The 1971 Spanjian Catalog - Stripes

As introduced yesterday, the 1971 Spanjian catalog is the epitome of ugly commercial art directed toward football, though their stripes are impressive.

Dec 25, 2025 • Football Archaeology

The Eye of the Beholder: The 1971 Spanjian Catalog - Pants and Jerseys

They filled the 1971 Spanjian catalog with Niemanesque impressionist product illustrations. The results were not pretty.

Dec 24, 2025 • Football Archaeology

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