PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
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https://mail.profootballresearchers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4280
I rather enjoyed "Leatherheads," and though it wasn't particularly historically accurate, it did shed light on the way the game was played way back when. Kudos to George Clooney for bringing it to life, and our great friend Coach TJ for ensuring the football scenes were so well done!TanksAndSpartans wrote:Ralph, best of luck with the book, I'll put it on my list.
Like Mike, I also read Denis Gullickson's book, but I don't remember it that well either. I recall he put some emphasis on myth busting like the "Blood and Sand" names coming from a movie marquee.
Leatherheads I barely remember - I saw it with my wife, and not only I wasn't impressed from a football point of view, I remember thinking it didn't even work that well as a romantic comedy. I'm going to read some of the links posted here - maybe if I went back and watched it now, I'd appreciate things I missed?
Of course, that story is debunked in my book. There are two immediate problems with it. First, the Packers didn't play the Bears in Chicago that day; they played the Giants in New York. Second, Pittsburgh lost 14-7 to the Eagles, not 7-0.Moran wrote:I love all this information - I've thought of myself as the only fan of Leatherheads - I have my ticket stub from opening night, the deluxe DVD with extra features that include, if I remember rightly, scenes of PFRA member CoachTJ consulting on the style of play, plus a nice poster, a couple of movie stills, and storyboard copies for the crew from scenes 132-133 which someone retrieved from the dumpster and sold on eBay. There was also the book Leatherheads of the North: The True Story of Ernie Nevers and the Duluth Eskimos by Chuck Frederick, which I thought was also a source for the film. I remember corresponding with Frederick about a "slugfest" between the Eskimos and the Frankford Yellow Jackets that involved my father. I have an interesting letter on behalf of Art Rooney to an author doing some fact checking - with comments about McNally
I remember at the 2008 PFRA meeting in suburban Pittsburgh, we had a screening of Leatherheads which consisted of about a dozen of us packed into a motel room watching it on pay per view. It had to be the only time in human history you had so many people in one motel room without anything nefarious going on in the room.TanksAndSpartans wrote:Thanks Mike, I definitely want to check out the movie again. I just googled it and saw the 2008 date. In 08, football history to me would have been Super Bowl I
Great article. Loved the movie. Looking forward to the book.rhickok1109 wrote: Funny that you mention "Leatherheads." I just recently found out that my Sports Illustrated article about the Duluth Eskimos inspired the movie.
Here's a link to my article in the SI Vault:
https://www.si.com/vault/1987/09/09/116 ... ---27-away
And here's the article about the movie:
https://www.si.com/vault/2008/04/07/105 ... hnny-blood
I didn't get any of that Hollywood money, though
Thanks, John! I'm glad you enjoyed the book.John Maxymuk wrote:Here's my take on Ralph's book (with illustrations):
https://packerspastperfect.wordpress.co ... d-mcnally/
Spoiler alert: an ideal match of author and subject
Also posted on the Amazon page for the book.
As someone who closely followed pro football during the Sixties, the term "America's Quarterback" would have fit Johnny Unitas more than Starr.JeffreyMiller wrote:Just got my copy ... looking forward to a great read, Ralph! Must be on a Green Bay kick, coz I'm just finishing up "Bart Starr: America's Quarterback" (and all this time I thought that distinction was held by Johnny Unitas ...)
