Today's Tidbit... The 1926 Football Visualizer

America's first commercial radio broadcast came in November 1920, and the first football game broadcast came one year later. The number of radios and radio stations exploded over the next few years and by 1925, 19 million households owned radios. Radio became a primary method for fans to consume sports in the sports world. Like big-screen televisions today, radio allowed fans to enjoy games from the comforts of their home while consuming the food and beverages of their choice.

Of course, the primary shortcoming of listening to games on the radio was the lack of visual cues received in person. Fans in the stands could recall long runs, passes, or exciting plays and recognize the relative field position advantage one team had over the other, while fans listening on the radio had only their imagination until someone had the bright idea to encourage fans to chart the plays, just as sportswriters had done for decades, with newspapers replicating and publishing the play charts the following day.

A typical play chart in newspapers in the 1920s.('Follow The Play By Play Chart Of The Utah-Cougar Football Game,' Salt Lake Tribune, November 3, 1927. )

While sportswriters charted plays to help craft their stories following the game, few fans did the same, despite a similar charting and scoring process being popular among baseball fans. Game programs and scorecards generally encouraged fans to track only those scoring points and the points scored by quarter.