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The National Football League did not have an “official” ball
until its sixth season. Apparently, it
wasn’t a priority. The league adopted
its first official game ball at the league meeting held August 1-2, 1925, at
the Hotel Sherman in Chicago. The balls
used at the dawn of the American Professional Football Association (as the NFL
was known in 1920 and 1921) were typically the model used in the college game,
adopted in 1912. This ball had a circumference
on the long axis from 28 to 28 ½ inches when tightly inflated, 22 ½ to 23
inches on the short axis, and weighed 14 to 15 ounces. Referred to as a “prolate spheroid,” the ball
was difficult to grip with one hand, making it hard for players with smaller hands to
execute a credible forward pass. In
truth, the ball more closely resembled a watermelon than the football used
today.
During the two-day league meeting in the summer of 1925,
the owners gave both Wilson and Spalding the opportunity to present their cases
to become the ball supplier of the National Football League. Mr. Wyle of the A.G. Spalding Company presented
their ball on August 1. This was the J5 model,
which he advised would cost the league $6.75 per unit in lots of 20 dozen or
more. These balls would bear a league
stamp. Mr. Whitlock of the Wilson Company gave his pitch the next day. The Wilson A5 ball could
be provided at a cost of $7.25 each. These footballs came with a new feature—guaranteed shape. As an added incentive, Wilson offered to
provide a trophy to the league champions at the end of the season.
After some deliberation, the owners voted to go with
Spalding, and the J5 model became the league’s official ball on August 2, 1925.
Though the National Football League did not adopt the
ball with dimensions approximating those today’s players and fans recognize (28
to 28 ½ x 21 to 21 1/4) until 1934, this action demonstrates that the league’s
founders were always looking toward the future and ways to improve their
game.
The Thomas E. Wilson Company took over as the official
supplier of NFL game balls in 1941.
Hey guys; I had no idea what the “evolution” of NFL Gameballs was...Thanks to Mr. Miller ; I got the “scoop”!..Now if could only figure out where names like “Bronco”; “Red”; and “Crazy-Legs” came from???....Hmmm..Cool article! Thanks again for that & the picture....Bill
ReplyDeletethose nicknames are pretty well known...Nagurski's "real" name is (not sure of the exact spelling) Bronislau....the generally accepted version is when a scout was scouting him for college and spoke to his mom, her pronunciation of his name sounded to the scout like "Bronko", hence the
Delete(just about perfect for the player he was) name....Harold Grange had ginger hair as a young man....Elroy Hirsh had a distinctive stride, if you look at old footage, his lower leg splayed visibly outwards on the followthrough of the stride....(bonus) "Bigger than Big Daddy" Ernie Ladd was...well....bigger than Big Daddy Lipscomb (the greatest player NOT in Canton)
It amazes me how often I read the NFL's official ball from their founding until The Duke arrived in 1941 was the Spalding. There was no official ball prior to 1925.
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