Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

This letter kinda goes against the story I always heard, that they sent the equipment guy (Abe Cohen) out just before halftime because the Giants couldn't get any traction on the icy field, and he came back before the start of the third period. Flaharty's letter seems to indicate that they had the sneakers during the first half but waited until halftime to put them on. Whatever the real story, it did change pro football strategy as other teams going forward followed their example and wore sneakers when playing in icy conditions. I've seen a number of references in the 40's and into the 50's of players wearing sneakers instead of cleated shoes in icy conditions, and it started with this game. I'm not sure at what point the practice of wearing uncleated sneakers on icy surfaces went away, it was certainly by 1960 I believe, and probably sooner than that.

Rupert Patrick wrote:I've seen a number of references in the 40's and into the 50's of players wearing sneakers instead of cleated shoes in icy conditions, and it started with this game. I'm not sure at what point the practice of wearing uncleated sneakers on icy surfaces went away, it was certainly by 1960 I believe, and probably sooner than that.

A fairly iconic photo of Otto Graham in the 1950 Championship game:

I wish that was a color photo of Graham - I had a pair of those in red

CONVERSE ALL STAR (1950)

http://www.classickicks.com/2014/01/converse-all-star/

Edited to add: "red"

Moran wrote:I wish that was a color photo of Graham - I had a pair of those in red

In my dreams

Crayola magic, Mike.
No one will notice the black tongue beneath the laces.
They will all be focused on the "Hands to the Face" demonstration behind Otto.
'Course it would be reviewed a dozen times to be sure the defender didn't have the fingers gripped between his teeth.
If so, Defensive Holding - Otto-matic First Down, obviously...