Today's Tidbit... Bootleg Footballs and Changing Specifications

We are all familiar with "bootlegs" in football, which entered the game with Pop Warner's 1927 Stanford team when they ran what appeared to be a Statue of Liberty play to the left. Instead, the double-wing fullback faked the give, concealed the ball on his hip, and ran around the right end for a touchdown.

In 1929, 'bootleg' came to be applied to footballs manufactured at variance from the NCAA's specifications during a time when several aspects of the ball changed. The 1925-1926 GoldSmith catalog describes the NCAA specifications its footballs met. (See the text immediately above the players on page 2.) While GoldSmith guaranteed the unlined football for one game and the lined ball for two, both came with leather laces and a lacing needle because footballs did not yet have internal valves. Inflating a ball required the removal of its laces, the inflation of its bladder, and the relacing of the ball. Since the lacing and relacing process required flexible, thin laces, the laces rose only slightly over the ball's surface, providing passers with less grip than later footballs. The ball also has a more rounded tip than those appearing a few years later. (Click to enlarge images)

(1925-26 Goldsmith Athletic Equipment, Fall & Winter)