Review: Washington Pro Football Encyclopedia by Mike Richman

 by Jeffrey J. Miller

Lovers of pro football history have ample reason to celebrate this year as several new books have hit the shelves (or will be shortly) telling the stories of former players (such as Oakland Raiders legend Phil Villapiano), owners (Buffalo Bills founder Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.), seasons (the first Super Bowl year of 1966), and teams. 

Villapiano’s autobiography, Just Tackle, Baby! (co-written with NFL Films Senior Producer Todd Schmidt) was published a few weeks ago and will be reviewed by the Pro Football Journal in the near future.  Wilson’s bio, Ralph C. Wilson Jr., The Conscience of the NFL (authored by the Bills expert and super-fan Greg Tranter), was just released and is already receiving rave reviews.  John Maxymuk’s latest work, Dawn of the Modern NFL: Pro Football in 1966, tells the story of pro football’s first Super Bowl season.  It is scheduled for release in November of 2026.    

One team that is the focus of a historical account is the Washington Redskins/Commanders, one of the longest tenured franchises of the National Football League.  Weighing in at an impressive 608 over-sized (8 ½ x 11) pages, The Washington Pro Football Encyclopedia, the latest book by author Mike Richman, provides enough material to keep the average fan reading well into the new year and provide enough factoids for trivia buffs for an eternity.  Published by Lyons Press (an imprint of the Global Pequot Publishing Group), this book is an expanded and revised version of his 2007 effort The Redskins Encyclopedia.  

Mike Richman is considered the preeminent authority on the history of professional football in our nation’s capital.  Aside from his previous Redskins encyclopedia, Richman has written Washington Redskins Football Vault as well as biographies of two of the team’s legendary coaches, George Allen (George Allen: A Football Life) and Joe Gibbs (Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy).  He is a long-time member of the Professional Football Researchers Association, and has published numerous articles in the PFRA’s Coffin Corner magazine.

Mike Richman speaking at the Professional
Football Researchers Association's Western
New York Chapter Conference in April 2025. 
(Photo Courtesy of Mark Palczewski)

The Washington Pro Football Encyclopedia begins with a comprehensive narrative history of the team, which joined the NFL in 1932 when well-to-do laundry magnate George Preston Marshall placed a new franchise in the city of Boston, Massachusetts.  The team was originally called the Braves, following the trend adopted in the league’s early years of using the nicknames of the city’s established Major League Baseball teams (in the case, the National League Boston Braves).  The team was renamed Redskins a year later and found a new home city when Marshall moved them to Capital City in 1937.  It also includes bios of all the team’s Hall-of-Famers (Sonny Jurgensen, Sammy Baugh, Charley Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, Darrell Green, Chis Hanburger, etc.), along with short bios of more than 100 players who enjoyed standout tenures with the club (Brian Mitchell, Ron McDole, Billy Kilmer, Charles Mann, London Fletcher, Joe Jacoby, Doug Williams, Jerry Smith, George Starke, and so on).

As would be expected in a publication such as this, there are the obligatory all-time listings for every major statistical category, all-time roster of players (over 1,700!), head coaches and assistants, year-by-year records, all-time draft history and more.

This book is exhaustively researched and masterfully written.  Richman has a clear, conversational style that is easy to follow.  He provides an insightful explanation of the decision to retire the “Redskins” nickname in 2020, after which they were called the Washington Football Team until ultimately deciding on their present name “Commanders” in 2022.  The account is balanced and provides arguments from all sides.

The attention to detail and depth of research required for a book such as this would be enough to scare away a historian of lesser skill and determination.  But Richman is clearly up to the task.  It is absolutely a must-have for Redskin/Commander fans, and because of its wide-sweeping scope and how far back into the league’s history it goes, should hold a welcome spot on any football fan’s bookshelf.  It definitely has on mine!