Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The latest issue of The Coffin Corner is now available for immediate download from the PFRA website.

The issue includes:
PFRA-ternizing. Executive Director Mark L. Ford presents his annual “State of the PFRA” report to members and discusses the issues faced by the organization during the pandemic; the increase in membership, social media presence and revenue; and the upcoming convention at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A detailed itinerary for the 2021 convention is also included.

2020 PFRA Awards. The official announcement of the Ralph Hay Award for lifetime achievement in pro football research and historiography, the Nelson Ross Award for recent achievement in pro football history, the Bob Carroll Memorial Writing Award for the best Coffin Corner article, and the inaugural Jack Clary Award for service to the organization.

Par for the Course: Quantifying the AFL/NFL Drafts from 1960–66 by Kent Stephens. An analysis of the seven competitive player drafts between the rival leagues before the common draft era and the author's method of evaluating the success of the upstart AFL in signing the top talent out of college.

Eddie Kotal: The Experiences that Shaped the First Full-Time NFL Scout by Ryan C. Christiansen. A short biography of the pioneering scout for the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams, whose career as a player and coach influenced the methods he developed to find and evaluate college players in the days before BLESTO and the NFL Scouting Combine.

2020 Player Deaths. A list of the pro football players who died last year, including information on the team(s) they played for, the date and location of their death (if known) and their age when they passed away.

Eddie Kotal needs to be the next contributor in the HOF but like Jack Vainisi, many people dont know enough about him.
Kotal, Vainisi and Kilroy should get in before any more owners but I believe Kraft will be the next one voted in.

Another cool nugget from the Paul Brown-players-he-got-rid-of-or-could-have-had club ... With the Browns he drafted underrated WR Chris Burford, who chose to sign with the AFL Dallas Texans, then in 1968 after the Chiefs put Burford on the expansion list, Brown tried to sign him with the new Bengals and Burford failed to report, choosing to retire instead ...

I know, most of you knew this information but its still amazing to me because had Burford signed, he could have possibly worked with a young Greg Cook and Bill Walsh in 1969 ...

Brian wolf wrote:Eddie Kotal needs to be the next contributor in the HOF but like Jack Vainisi, many people dont know enough about him.
Kotal, Vainisi and Kilroy should get in before any more owners but I believe Kraft will be the next one voted in.

*If* you can find it - and I cannot** - read Cliff Christl and Don Langenkamp's "Sleepers, busts & franchise-makers: The behind-the-scenes story of the pro football draft (1936-present)" published in 1983. They give Kotal a lot of attention in it.

** I even asked Cliff if he has any copies in the garage I could buy. I finally was able to get it through interlibrary loan from a library in .... Green Bay. It was a photocopy of the book.

Ronfitch wrote:

Brian wolf wrote:Eddie Kotal needs to be the next contributor in the HOF but like Jack Vainisi, many people dont know enough about him.
Kotal, Vainisi and Kilroy should get in before any more owners but I believe Kraft will be the next one voted in.

Read Cliff Christl and Don Langenkamp's "Sleepers, busts & franchise-makers: The behind-the-scenes story of the pro football draft (1936-present)" published in 1983. They give Kotal a lot of attention in it.

Cliff Christl in 2016: "I believe the Los Angeles Rams were the first team to send a scout [Eddie Kotal] on the road for weeks at a time visiting colleges and writing detailed reports on players. Vainisi went on the road at times, scouted games in the fall and also some spring practices, and visited colleges when he went on his annual winter tours to sign the Packers' picks from the previous draft. But based on his own comments in interviews and elsewhere, an interview with one of his secretaries and interviews with people who supplied him with scouting reports, I've found little evidence to suggest he was constantly on the road bird-dogging talent like the Rams' Eddie Kotal."

https://www.packers.com/news/lombardi-c ... e-17969111

RyanChristiansen wrote:

Ronfitch wrote:

Brian wolf wrote:Eddie Kotal needs to be the next contributor in the HOF but like Jack Vainisi, many people dont know enough about him.
Kotal, Vainisi and Kilroy should get in before any more owners but I believe Kraft will be the next one voted in.

Read Cliff Christl and Don Langenkamp's "Sleepers, busts & franchise-makers: The behind-the-scenes story of the pro football draft (1936-present)" published in 1983. They give Kotal a lot of attention in it.

Cliff Christl in 2016: "I believe the Los Angeles Rams were the first team to send a scout [Eddie Kotal] on the road for weeks at a time visiting colleges and writing detailed reports on players. Vainisi went on the road at times, scouted games in the fall and also some spring practices, and visited colleges when he went on his annual winter tours to sign the Packers' picks from the previous draft. But based on his own comments in interviews and elsewhere, an interview with one of his secretaries and interviews with people who supplied him with scouting reports, I've found little evidence to suggest he was constantly on the road bird-dogging talent like the Rams' Eddie Kotal."

https://www.packers.com/news/lombardi-c ... e-17969111

I can substantiate Cliff's suggestion. Vainisi and my dad were good friends. They had actually met in occupied Japan, where Dad was the managing editor of the Pacific Stars and Stripes and Vainisi was on Gen. MacArthur's staff, and they resumed their friendship in 1950, when Vainisi arrived in Green Bay as chief scout. He very occasionally scouted a college game in season but preferred to concentrate on post-season all-star games.

As a scout, though, he had an amazing eye. I remember Dad asking him if Max McGee would be successful as a running back in the NFL and Vainisi casually remarked, "No, we'll use him as a flanker or split end." Somehow, by seeing him as a fullback in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game, he had decided that McGee should be a wide receiver.

Most people feel Lombardi was the greatest head coach in NFL history but I dare say that without Vainisi finding the talent in GB, as well as helping him get the job and QB Charlie Conerly helping him adjust to the pro game, Lombardi might not have stuck with pro football.