COFFIN CORNER VOLUME 46 NUMBER 1

[George Bozeka]

COFFIN CORNER VOLUME 46 NUMBER 1 is now available in Members Only. The issue includes the following:


PFRA-ternizing. Executive Director Lee Elder presents the annual “State of the PFRA” report to members and discusses the growth of the organization with an increase in paid memberships, the addition of new regional chapters, the success of the PFRA’s research and education initiatives and the many books on pro football history published by our members. He also highlights the official podcast with 12 episodes now produced and the PFRA’s continued growth in social media. There is also a call for assistance in the various departments of the Coffin Corner by the editor-in-chief.

2023 PFRA Awards. The official announcement of the Ralph Hay Award for lifetime achievement in pro football research and historiography, the Nelson Ross Award for recent achievement in pro football history, the Bob Carroll Memorial Writing Award for the best Coffin Corner article, and the Jack Clary Award for service to the organization.

The Hall of Very Good Class of 2023 by Matt Keddie, Andy Piascik, Jay Thomas, and John Turney. Career highlights of last year's class are included for Coy Bacon, Ray Childress, John David Crow, Earl Faison, Leon Gray, Nick Lowery, Michael Dean Perry, Buck Shaw, and Jeff Van Note.

Michael Dean Perry: Twenty Questions with the Newly Inducted Hall of Very Good Member by Barry Shuck. An interview with the former Cleveland Browns defensive tackle and a discussion of his career at Clemson and in the NFL, and his accomplishments, including the rare (or medium-well) honor of having a McDonald’s sandwich being named after him.

Catching the Buzz! An Electric Game of Our Own by Chris LeMay. An entertaining history of Electric Football, a tabletop game invented in 1948 by Norman Sas of Tudor Games that received an NFL license in 1967 and exploded in popularity among the Baby Boomer generation in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Other manufacturers and competitors in the market are covered, as is the continued following the game has among enthusiasts today.

[RichardBak]

Haven't had a chance to read the piece on electric football but I'm really looking forward to it. I got one of those games for Christmas back in '67 or '68, and I can remember lugging it several blocks in the snow to play it in my buddy's basement. Pretty sure the teams that came with the set were the Giants and Browns. (Can't remember, but you might've been able to order other teams.)

What I remember best about it was that it took forever to set up the players for a play, and there were brushes on the bottom of each player's base which you could adjust depending on which direction you wanted them to go. Sounds good in theory, but once you hit the juice and the field started vibrating, it was like 22 untied balloons---the players just went wherever the hell they wanted to go. So much for the power sweep I'd spent 5 minutes setting up. Oh, and there was a foam football that could be passed or kicked. That was a hoot, too.

The whole thing was a pain in the ass. I quickly went back to APBA dice football for a much more realistic experience.

[JuggernautJ]

My favorite memories of "Electric Football" (and I too had a set in the mid 1960's till the mid '70's) was getting out my model paints and painting the nondescript players (mine came in yellow and white, if I recall correctly) to represent my favorite players and/or teams.
I made teams of Colts and Packers and then repainted them to be the Rams and Steelers and, somewhere along in there, the NFL (later NFC) All Stars.

The game itself was awful (as Richard says, above) but having those "miniatures" on my bookshelf was pretty cool!