By Chris Willis, NFL Films
Bob Carroll, appearing on NFL Films, This is the NFL, 1992 |
“Ask me who started in the last Super Bowl (1986) and I wouldn’t know. But, I could recite from memory the lineup of the 1920 Decatur Staleys,” said Bob Carroll to the Pittsburgh Press in 1986.
On this day back in 2009 I heard the news that Bob
Carroll had passed away. I can’t believe it has been twelve years since he’s
been gone.
Back in 1993 I was just a college senior back in Ohio
trying to figure out my next move in my career path. I was a big football
history buff and loved reading anything I could about the history of the sport
I loved. At this time, I came across an organization that gave me a big break
in my football writing, as well as being introduced to the foremost football
historian in the country- Bob Carroll.
That year I joined the Professional Football
Researchers Association (PFRA) and as a member I received their publication
called the Coffin Corner. It was a twenty-four page “magazine” that
included articles about the history of the game. I was fascinated by reading
it. Soon, I got the urge to write an article that I thought would be ideal for
the magazine. Since I lived just two hours away from Canton, Ohio I had
attended several Hall of Fame Induction weekends nicknamed “Football’s Greatest
Weekend.”
Seeing the Hall of Famers and how the city of Canton
always rolled out the red carpet for the former legends of the game inspired me
to write an article on the first-ever class of inducted players in 1963. Titled,
The Pro Football Hall of Fame: The Beginning, I sent my article to Bob
at the Coffin Corner. I was pretty much a first-time author (had only
written for Bob Swick’s Football Times a few months earlier) so I was
expecting a rejection. Instead, I got a letter back from Bob Carroll. He was
going to publish my article! I was stunned.
1994 Letter from Bob Carroll to author |
Not only did the article appear in the Coffin
Corner it was accompanied by Bob’s drawings of the Hall of Fame’s first
class. It was an honor to see his artwork with my short article. But in the end,
it shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Over the next fifteen years Bob always was generous
with his time and expertise with any writing or film project I had going on. He
was a giant in the world of football research, but was always willing to help
anybody who asked. I was able to meet Bob twice back in 1997-1998. At this time
he wasn’t too keen on traveling anywhere, except the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
his favorite spot. Those two years the Hall of Fame in conjunction with the
Stark State College of Technology put on a symposium called Pro Football in
American Life. I was one of many scholars and historians who presented
papers. Bob made the trek from Western Pennsylvania to attend both years. It
was great talking to him and leaning more about the history of pro football.
Thanks Bob!
Bob Carroll’s Career
Robert N. (Bob) Carroll, Jr. was born on July 10, 1936
in Wheeling, West Virginia to Robert Carroll, Sr. and Katherine Carroll. After
graduating college Carroll went on to teach art and English at McKeesport (PA)
High School. He married Suzanne (Sprowls) Carroll and had two children,
daughter Katherine and son, Martin.
Bob Carroll, headshot appeared in Roger Treat's Pro Football Encyclopedia, 1974 |
In the 1970s the school teacher living in Western
Pennsylvania began his love affair with pro football history. Spending numerous
hours going through newspapers and microfilm Carroll begun to chronicle, and
even correct, pro football history. This was not just a hobby, it was a
passion. “When I started researching pro football 35 years ago, there was
very little information available,” said Bob Carroll to the Pittsburgh
Press in 1986. “For the first twenty-five years, I thought I was the
only one who gave a darn.”
On June 22, 1979 Bob Carroll gathered five other
football researchers and writers in Canton, Ohio to form the Professional
Football Researchers Association. Earlier that year he edited the
organization’s official newsletter/magazine The
Coffin Corner. For the next thirty years he devoted most of his life in
operating the PFRA.
For three decades he edited The Coffin Corner, as well as authoring over 200 articles for the
newsletter/magazine and PFRA Annuals. He also authored many books.
List
of Books by Bob Carroll
Bob Carroll book titles |
Most football historians cherish the volume he wrote
with Pete Palmer and John Thorn, The Hidden Game of Football. In this
day of analytics this book was well ahead of its times with looking at statistical
numbers in a different way. It’s still relevant today. But my favorite Bob
Carroll book is When the Grass Was Real. Like NFL Films, When the
Grass Was Real, is a look back at pro football in the 1960s with a
storyteller’s touch. Carroll does an outstanding job of transporting you back
to the Sensational Sixties telling you of an era that he called “pro
football’s greatest decade.”
When the Grass was Real is part history lesson, part oral history. Carroll tells the story of pro football’s most combative decade, sprinkled with interviews of the decades’ greatest personalities such as Bob St. Clair, Willie Davis, Sid Gillman, Sam Huff, Billy Shaw, Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Chuck Howley, Weeb Ewbank and Bobby Bell. Every time I read When the Grass was Real I learn something new.
Thanks Bob!
In addition to working on The Coffin Corner Carroll was also an accomplished artist. Almost
every issue of the PFRA’s newsletter/magazine would be accompanied by a drawing
from him. Over 1,000 drawings were stored in his personal library. His artwork
appeared in many books and articles as well as in Pro Football Weekly. In 1994
Carroll appeared in the NFL Films documentary “75 Seasons” a two-hour film
about the NFL’s first seventy-five years that aired that fall on TNT.
Bob Carroll, from 1994 NFL Films documentary, 75 Seasons |
But probably his ultimate accomplishment was being the
lead editor of Total Football: The
Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. A labor of love that
turned into 1,652 pages of the NFL’s official history. No sportswriter,
researcher, librarian, author, historian or football fan can be without Total Football.
In Volume 31,
Number 4 of The Coffin Corner the
last article with the name Bob Carroll attached to it was published. Titled
“The Packers Crash Through: 1929” it was a summary of the 1929 NFL season.
On August 25, 2009 Bob Carroll passed away at the age
of 73. In the first Coffin Corner
after his passing the editors dedicated the whole issue to its founding father.
Every so often I think of the man who helped my career over twenty-five years
ago by publishing my article on the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I will always
remember him in the best of light.
Thanks Bob!
Thanks, guys ... A great Tribute.
ReplyDeleteThe History of Pro Football to me is still glorious whether the game itself is slowly dying ...
Carroll is a little like Bill James to me. He lived during our lifetime yet was the "father" of a sports movement, a rarity. Who were the football historians of the 60's and 70's it was really just Bob. I have two books I recommend to every real football fan, Dr.Z's Thinking Man's Guide and the Carroll, et al Hidden Game of pro football. My own copies of each have pages falling out of the bindings from re-reading and referencing, scribbles all in the margins and 30+ year faded highlighting. Bob was truly a great and honestly should be with Jor Horrigan, Siymour Siwoff, the Sabols, Dr.Z and others among the great contributors who never strapped on a helmet.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I "met" Bob was in a post on the (old) PFRA Forum. I had just purchased Total Football and had a question. I had no idea who Bob was (or what the PFRA was) and I started my question with "I have always wondered...".
ReplyDeleteBob's reply: "Yes, I'm sure you always have."
And that was Bob: irascible, cantankerous and hilarious.
But when I replied and changed "always" to "often" Bob answered my question and increased my knowledge of the game.
And that, too, was the quintessential Carroll... kind, knowledgeable and willing to give of his time to help those genuinely interested in football history.'
Bob Carroll was all of those things and, above all, a unique and giving educator... and I, too, miss him.
As Chris said: "Thanks, Bob."
And may you rest in peace knowing you gave far more in this life than you ever took.