Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

These three announcements will go out today:

The PFRA is proud to announce the 2019 Ralph Hay Award winner: the late Rupert Patrick. The Ralph Hay Award, named after the Canton Bulldogs owner whose showroom in Canton, Ohio was the site of the NFL's first organizational meeting, is awarded for "Lifetime achievement in pro football research and historiography."

The PFRA is proud to announce that Chris Serb has won the Nelson Ross Award for his book “War Football: World War I and the Birth of the NFL.” The Nelson Ross Award is presented annually by the PFRA for "Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography." https://www.amazon.com/War-Football-Wor ... 034&sr=8-1

The PFRA is proud to announce that Ryan C. Christiansen has won the Bob Carroll Memorial Writing Award for his article “Pro Football’s Renaissance Men: The Twilight Decade of the 1960s” (Coffin Corner Volume 41 Number 1). Established in 2009, The Bob Carroll Memorial Writing Award is named after Bob Carroll - the founder of the PFRA and for thirty years (1979-2009) the editor of the “The Coffin Corner.” This award, first given out in 2010, honors the year's best original article published in “The Coffin Corner.”

Congratulations to the winners!

And kudos to the PFRA for honoring Rupert Patrick.
Well done and well-deserved all around.

Congratulations to all, and a very worthy winner with the late Rupert Patrick.

My goodness. I was totally blindsided by this award. Thank you. It’s this organization that gets the credit for motivating me to write. I only hope I can live up to future expectations.

It’s great to see Rupert recognized in this way. Congratulations to everyone.

Three very worthy winners. Congratulations!

I’m really happy Rupert was recognized. I always enjoyed his presence on the board even though I didn’t know him personally as many of you did. Chris’s “Before the Bears” CC article was right up my alley and his book is on my reading list as well. And finally, Congrats Ryan! Happy to see a regular poster take home one of the awards.

Thank you so much for the honor! The fact that I finally got "War Football" published after 15 years of trying was reward enough, but the Nelson Ross Award confirms that this was a story worth telling. Congrats also to Ryan (I loved your CC article!) and to the late Rupert. Looking forward to seeing many of you in Canton on June 19!

ChrisSerb wrote:The fact that I finally got "War Football" published after 15 years of trying was reward enough, but the Nelson Ross Award confirms that this was a story worth telling.

Okay, so I finally went into my Amazon wish list and bought this book. I'll have to move it to the top of the stack of good intentions and get this one read. I look forward to it.

Thanks so much, Ryan! I look forward to hearing your opinion.

ChrisSerb wrote:Thank you so much for the honor! The fact that I finally got "War Football" published after 15 years of trying was reward enough, but the Nelson Ross Award confirms that this was a story worth telling. Congrats also to Ryan (I loved your CC article!) and to the late Rupert. Looking forward to seeing many of you in Canton on June 19!

I've ordered a copy and look forward to getting it in April. I was glad to see a historian research the theory that the popularity of service football during World War I (and then in 1919 while the U.S. troops were still waiting to get to get shipped home) was what it took to persuade investors that a major professional football league could succeed. It's one of the most original ideas we've seen in years. Thanks for your perseverance.