Today's Tidbit... When Rubber Footballs Were All The Rage

Early folk football games occurred post-harvest using the inflated bladders of recently-slaughtered pigs. Eventually, they covered the pig bladders with cowhide, and the bladders transitioned to rubber, yet the combination continued to be called pigskins.

Internal valves allowed the ball to remain inflated longer, and the arrival of external valves in the 1920s meant they no longer had to be unlaced and relaced when reinflating them, so footballs approached perfection. However, the challenges of footballs becoming slippery when wet and losing their shape over time were unsolved.

The solution to both problems began before WWII when Voit introduced rubber footballs. Some were bladderless, while others had bladders, rubberized inner fabric linings, and cooked rubber covers with pebbling similar to their rawhide cousins. The initial reaction to these balls in the mainstream football world is unknown, and the onset of WWII led to a shortage of rubber until synthetic versions became available. That allowed rubber footballs to see use in recreational football settings, including military training camps.

(1948 Fall and Winter MacGregor Goldsmith Catalog)

Following the war, rubber football manufacturers became more aggressive in marketing the balls and promoting their use in test games, such as a 1950 AAFC exhibition game, and by then, they were already approved for use by the Oregon high school association, where rainy games are frequent.