Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
JohnR wrote:Hewritt Dixon may have preceded Jones? I'd have to go back & check but I think film of the Broncos in '64 shows Dixon spiking the ball. Jones didn't have any TD receptions in '64.
I just checked the YouTube film and Dixon spikes the ball around the 5:10 mark in a game at Kansas City. It was Dixon's only TD in 1964.
It appears ol' Hewritt (one of my faves on those great old Oakland teams of the '60s) was a bit of a trendsetter. I recall one run when he got flagged for a personal foul for giving a forearm shiver to a defender's face. Only time I've ever seen a ball carrier get flagged like that.
Brian wolf wrote:Homer Jones I believe, was the first to spike the football. An exciting but disappointing career.
A call out to older Bears fans ...
I have been watching older Bears games to enjoy the greatness of Walter Payton and the Bears had a receiver named Ricky Watts who had size and speed. Why didnt this guy have a better career ?
Yes, his hands werent the best and he was double covered alot with the slower Brian Baschnagel on the other side but he had huge play ability but I guess he just couldnt develop enough for QBs, Phipps and Evans. Evans had talent too but couldnt hit the side of a barn.
I agree. I always thought Watts had better stats and more touchdowns, it seemed to me he was on every Howard Cosell narrated highlights on MNF.
I know I'm horribly old-school on this one but I wholeheartedly believe in the old footballism "When you get in the end zone act like you've been there before."
I believe in sportsmanship and not self-aggrandizement so, to me, the "best TD celebration" is the one done by thousands of players before the current era... toss the ball to the nearest official, say "Thank you, sir" and go back to the huddle for the next play (because those guys played both ways).
Spiking doesn't bother me nearly as much as it first did, mostly because it pales alongside the whole look-at-me/selfie crap that has taken over the game. Guy picks off a pass and suddenly it's off to the races with everybody doing some rehearsed dance step or crowding together for a self-portrait. Somebody who didn't know anything about sports (like my wife) sees this and thinks, "Did these guys just discover the cure for cancer or what?" No dear, some guy just intercepted a pass in a 38-10 ballgame. I played, coached, and watched sports for more years than I care to remember, and I flat out hate this kind of self-aggrandizement. But it is what it is. Some grouchy old-timer in Michigan ain't gonna stop it.
