Today's Tidbit... 100 Years of Football: 1931-1935

This is the eleventh in a series looking back at “100 Years of Football,” syndicated cartoons published by Jerry Brondfield and Charles Beck in 1969. Today's version covers the period from 1931-1935.

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Knute Rockne was an innovator on the field and off. He was never afraid of travel, with his teams often referred to as the Ramblers due to their willingness to play anywhere, exemplified by the rivalry established with USC as both teams became nationally prominent in the 1920s. Unfortunately, he perished in 1931 when a flight crashed in Kansas. Football would never see the likes of him again.

(Brondfield & Beck, '100 Years Of Football,' Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, NJ), November 24, 1969.)

The passing game advanced in the 1920s while football still used a more rounded ball, but the ball was made narrower and pointer in the early 1930s, and teams were no longer penalized for multiple incompletions in a set of downs. Coming off two national championships and Rockne’s death, Notre Dame was undefeated when USC came to South Bend. The Irish led the game 14-0 in the fourth quarter….