NFL Rushing Quiz: 1) Who were the only two in the 1950s to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, twice? 2) Who was the first to rush for 250 yards in a game? 3) Who upped the mark to 275? Answers below.
Shu alerted me to the fact Pittsburgh turned 250 this year, but before I get to an article by Andy Masich of the Heinz History Center from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, just a few related blurbs.
At the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers (forming the Ohio), Fort Duquesne was founded on the site by the French c. 1750. Captured by the British in 1758, it was renamed Fort Pitt.
And here’s a bit on early transportation in America from the book “America: A Narrative History,” by George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi.
“Transportation improvements helped spur the development of a national market. As settlers moved west, there developed a stronger demand for better roads. In 1795 the Wilderness Road, along the trail blazed by Daniel Boone twenty years before, was opened to covered-wagon and stagecoach traffic, thereby easing the route through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and along the Knoxville and Old Walton Roads, completed the same year, into Tennessee. Even so, travel was difficult at best. Stagecoaches crammed with as many as a dozen people crept along at four miles per hour. One early stage rider said he alternately walked and rode and ‘though the pain of riding exceeded the fatigue of walking…it refreshed us by varying the weariness of our bodies.’ South of these roads there were no such major highways. South Carolinians and Georgians pushed westward on whatever trails or rutted roads had appeared.
“To the northeast a movement for graded and paved roads (macadamized with crushed stones packed down) gathered momentum after completion of the Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike in 1794 (the term derives from a pole or pike at the tollgate, turned to admit the traffic). By 1821 some 4,000 miles of turnpikes had been completed, mainly connecting eastern cities. Western traffic moved along the Frederick Pike to Cumberland and thence along the National Road, completed to Wheeling on the Ohio River in 1818, and to Vandalia, Illinois, by about mid-century. Another route went along the old Forbes Road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Another used the Mohawk and Genesee Turnpike from the Massachusetts state line through Albany to Buffalo, whence one could take ship for points on the Great Lakes.”
And now you know the genesis of Genesee Cream Ale, boys and girls.
[Actually, just went on the beer’s Web site. Genny wasn’t founded until 1960, Rochester, New York….never mind.]
Anyway, back to some facts on Pittsburgh, courtesy of the Heinz Center.
500 – Dollars paid to William “Pudge” Hefflefinger to play football in what became the first professional football game in 1892 on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Hefflefinger, a Yale grad, was recruited to help the Allegheny Athletic Association beat rival Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Hefflefinger scored the game’s only touchdown.
95 – Millions of tons of steel produced in Western Pennsylvania factories during World War II, in addition to 52 million shells and 11 million bombs.
1,500 – Number of movies in which the Zippo lighter, created by Bradford native George Blaisdell in 1933, has appeared.
2,000 – Number of passengers that could be carried in the railroad car-sized gondolas of the original Ferris Wheel, invented by Pittsburgher George Ferris in 1892 for the World Columbian Exposition (Ferris had been challenged to create a signature structure that would eclipse the Eiffel Tower, which was unveiled at the Paris Expo in 1889).
Pittsburgh born and bred.
George Benson, Josh Gibson, Shirley Jones, Gene Kelly, David McCullough, Joe Namath, Satchel Paige, Quarterbacks (more than 40 pros), Art Rooney, Johnny Unitas, Bobby Vinton (underrated)
The Polio Vaccine – Jonas Salk tested the experimental polio vaccine on monkeys, himself, and his colleagues at the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh and the D.T. Watson Home for Crippled Children and the Polk School before a national field trial was held in 1954 involving nearly 1.8 million children nicknamed “Polio Pioneers.” It took a year to evaluate the results of the trial, and on April 12, 1955, pandemonium broke out when his vaccine was declared “safe, effective and potent.” Within two years, polio cases had dropped 90 percent.
Alternating Current – George Westinghouse knew there was an alternative to direct current and its limited value in powering cities. With Nikola Tesla, he developed alternating current, which could be distributed over long distances with high voltages without losing power, and could also be converted to low voltages to safely light homes and appliances. Thomas Edison was his fiercest rival, but ultimately Westinghouse won the “battle of the currents,” and changed our world forever.
Business Breakthroughs – From Alcoa to U.S. Steel to Heinz, America’s most innovative companies changed the world from Pittsburgh. You can picture Alcoa’s and U.S. Steel’s innovations, but did you know that Heinz used its influence to push through the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, a revolutionary accomplishment for the safety of the American people? It’s true.
Entertainment and Communication Innovations – Pittsburgh innovations laid the foundation for the world’s most ubiquitous mass media entertainment options – radio, television, and the movies.
In 1905, Pittsburgh entertainment entrepreneur John P. Harris opened the Nickleodeon, the first theater dedicated entirely to showing movies, for 5 cents, of course.
KDKA became the first radio station to transmit a commercial broadcast on November 2, 1920, when it shared the election results of the presidential race between Warren Harding and James Cox. The results were said to be heard as far away as Canada.
WQED broadcast for the first time on April 1, 1954, as the first community sponsored educational TV station in the country.
Rachel Carson and the Modern Environmental Movement. Rachel Carson, who grew up along the banks of the Allegheny River in Springdale, lived in the shadows of Pittsburgh’s smokestacks and their environmental ravages. She wrote “Silent Spring” in 1962.
Jim Delligatti created the legendary Big Mac in 1967 at his McDonald’s in Uniontown. I stuffed my face there a few years ago.
Pittsburgh has won five Super Bowls, five World Series, and two Stanley Cups.
On Sept. 1, 1971, Pirates Manager Danny Murtaugh fielded Major League Baseball’s first all-minority starting lineup, including five African-Americans, two Panamanians, one Puerto Rican and one Cuban.
Pittsburgh was the only city with two Negro League teams, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays.
Born in 1930 in New Kensington, Willie Thrower was the first African-American quarterback in the modern NFL, playing for the Chicago Bears in 1953. It was 14 more years before another African-American quarterback played for a NFL team.
Pittsburgh companies produced the steel gates for the Panama Canal, while also providing the steel to build the Empire State Building, which King Kong climbed soon thereafter, terrifying those working late that night.
I heard a local DJ bring back “Rocktober,” the other day so I thought I’d put down some top ten album lists from years gone by. Hopefully, a few of these will be familiar from those days before CDs.
7. Whipped Cream & Other Delights…Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass…still the best album cover of all time
10. The Impossible Dream…Jack Jones…my man! [Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up, Soon he will open the door…..]
*Oct. 7, 1966, British rocker Johnny Kidd is killed at the age of 26, in a two-car accident near Radcliffe, UK.
*Oct. 8, 1966, Cream’s Ginger Baker collapses after playing a 20-minute drum solo during the group’s concert at the University of Sussex. He is taken to the hospital suffering from acute exhaustion and the flu.
*Oct. 14, 1966, Lead singer Signe Toly Anderson (sic), scheduled to make her final appearance with Jefferson Airplane, fails to show up at the group’s Fillmore Auditorium concert in San Francisco. Her replacement, 26-yer-old Grace Slick, is already chosen and steps in, bringing with her two numbers she has performed with her old group, the Great Society: the bolero-like “White Rabbit” and “Somebody To Love.” Man, I totally forgot this.
*Oct. 23, 1966, Having returned from France, the Jimi Hendrix Experience record for the first time, at De Lane Lea Studios in London, cutting “Hey Joe” and “Stonefree” – both of which will become revered songs in the Hendrix canon. “Hey Joe” hits the UK charts in January 1967, a full eight months before the U.S. takes notice.
1. Green River…Creedence Clearwater Revival
2. Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)…The Rolling Stones
3. Johnny Cash at San Quentin
4. Blind Faith…Blind Faith
5. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida…Iron Butterfly
6. Blood, Sweat & Tears
7. Hair…original cast
8. This is Tom Jones
9. Best of Cream
10. Hot Buttered Soul…Isaac Hayes
*Oct. 18, 1969, Bill Haley is given an eight-minute ovation at Richard Nader’s first Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival concert, held at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden, New York. It also features Chuck Berry, the Platters, the Coasters, the Shirelles, Jimmy Clanton, and Sha Na Na.
*Oct. 20, 1969, The Who begin a six-night stand at the Fillmore East in New York, performing “Tommy.” The rock opera is proving significantly more popular here than in the UK, and Tommy will spend over two years on the U.S. chart – compared with a meager nine weeks back home.
1. Chicago V
2. Carney…Leon Russell
3. Never a Dull Moment…Rod Stewart
4. Honky Chateau…Elton John
5. Big Bambu…Cheech & Chong
6. Superfly…Curtis Mayfield / soundtrack
7. Days of Future Passed…The Moody Blues
8. Seven Separate Fools…Three Dog Night
9. The London Chuck Berry Sessions
10. Moods…Neil Diamond
*Oct. 21, 1972, On “Soul Train,” the O’Jays perform their breakthrough crossover No. 3 hit, “Back Stabbers.” The group is signed to the two-year-old Philadelphia International label, formed by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who are quickly becoming the new Holland/Dozier/Holland. Gamble and Huff are writing and producing a slew of top-drawer, catchy, R&B hits – collectively known as the “Sound of Philadelphia. Others signed by Gamble and Huff include Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, fronted by Teddy Pendergrass, and local singer Billy Paul, whose single “Me And Mrs. Jones” gives the label its first chart-topper in December.
4. Red Octopus…Jefferson Starship
5. Win, Lose or Draw…The Allman Brothers Band
6. One of These Nights…Eagles
7. Prisoner in Disguise…Linda Ronstadt
*Oct. 11, 1975, NBC launches “Saturday Night Live,” with George Carlin hosting the premiere, comic Andy Kaufman sings ‘Mighty Mouse,’ and the likes of John Belushi and Chevy Chase are introduced to America. Musical guests are Janis Ian performing her recent No. 3, “At Seventeen,” and Billy Preston.
*Oct. 26, 1975, Elton John sings “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There” in tribute to the Beatles, while dressed in a sequined Dodgers uniform at Dodger Stadium.
8. Twin Sons of Different Mothers…Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg
*Oct. 20, 1978, Having flown to New York on the budget Laker Skytrain earlier today, carrying their instruments as hand luggage, Sting and Andy Summers join drummer Stewart Copeland (who arrived the day before) in New York, to make the Police’s U.S. debut at CBGBs, at the start of a 23-date North American tour.
[Next Thursday, Bar Chat goes back in time….Woodstock, the museum]
Some people are just destined to be perennial nominees for “Idiot of the Year” and the Giants’ wide receiver is one of them. Burress missed a team meeting two weeks ago, didn’t let the team know where he was, and was suspended for two weeks, though just one game due to a bye week.
So on Monday, he spoke to reporters for the first time as he gets ready to return.
“Why would there be any hard feelings?” he commented. “It was a decision that they chose to make and I was fine with it. They feel that they needed to do that so I took it with a grain of salt and kept on moving.”
Huh? Burress hinted that the family emergency that precluded him from making the team meeting on Sept. 22 was all about taking his son to school.
“It was just a situation I had to deal with that morning, and I made the right decision.”
“There are some things that you guys don’t know. So you can’t say it wasn’t an emergency on my part because you don’t know everything that was going on….
“Coach said I was suspended because I needed to be more responsible. I was being responsible, I just put my child first.”
Police were called to his home twice earlier this year in response to domestic problems.
Of the Giants’ organization, Burress said, “Some of the demands they ask me to do, I just don’t meet. Maybe I have a problem with time or something, I don’t know. I haven’t been able to quite put my finger on it. Does it really bother or affect me? No. When it’s time to step on the field and play, that’s what I do.”
Burress is said to have been fined a stupendous 40-50 times by the Giants for constant infractions.
–Interesting media notes from Richard Sandomir of the New York Times.
“On Sunday, just after 1 p.m., Game 4 of the Phillies-Brewers series in Milwaukee competed directly with the Packers’ kickoff against the Falcons at Green Bay.
“In the Milwaukee market, baseball’s 12.7 rating was less than half of football’s 28.7.
“Back east in Philadelphia, the same Phillies-Brewers game was shown against the Redskins-Eagles broadcast. And the 13.2 local rating for the division series game fell considerably below the 22.7 for football.
“In two other markets where baseball and football were shown hours apart Sunday, the results were the same. When the Tampa Bay Rays played the White Sox in Game 3 of their series in late afternoon, the Chicago market posted a 9.6 rating. But fans rewarded the Bears with a 21.9 rating for their earlier game against the Lions.
“For Game 3 of Angels-Red Sox series, which started after 7 p.m. but lasted 5 hours 19 minutes, Boston-area viewers generated a 24.7 rating – six rating points below what the market produced for the late-afternoon broadcast of the Patriots-49ers game.”
–My high school football pick, Gateway of Monroeville, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, is still #3 in USA Today’s Super 25, having whipped Hempfield, my mother’s high school, 42-0. #1 is Byrnes of Duncan, S.C. and #2 is Trinity of Euless, Texas. [Euless is west of DFW Airport. Duncan is near Greenville/Spartanburg. Don’t worry, I had to look this up.]
–I caught the end of last Sunday’s PGA Tour stop at Turning Stone, won by rookie Dustin Johnson, his first title, but just looked at runner-up Robert Allenby’s record. He last won in 2001, if you can believe that. Two wins in 2000 and two in ’01. This year he has five top-4 finishes and he’s 12th on the money list at $3.45 million, but he looked like he wanted to shoot himself after Sunday’s choke job where he left a 12-foot putt short to force what would have been a playoff. Such is life in the big time, where, unlike the NBA and MLB, nothing is guaranteed….which is why I respect the greats in the sport so much.
–In Minnesota’s 30-27 win over New Orleans on Monday night, the Saints’ Reggie Bush became the 12th in NFL history to return two punts for touchdowns. But Bush, now in his third year, has to be considered a huge disappointment. He’s only averaging 3.6 yards per carry and 7.4 per reception thus far in his career. Hardly superstar numbers.
–Former USC passing great Craig Fertig passed away at the age of 66. While his stats weren’t impressive by today’s standards, in 1963 and ‘64 he threw for a combined 2,200 yards and 16 TD passes on a team that also featured running back Mike Garrett. USC was 7-3 both years, though in the last game of the ’64 season, Fertig led the Trojans back from a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat unbeaten, top-ranked Notre Dame, 20-17. After graduation, Fertig was an assistant to John McKay from 1965 to 1973.
–And now…my college football selections as I put my 8-1 record (32-14 the past two years) on the line. But as much as I loved last week’s lineup and went 6-0, this week I can’t stand the games and will be happy going 1-2.
Take Cincinnati, giving 7 1/2 to Rutgers
Take Buffalo, giving 1 to W. Michigan
Take Missouri, giving 14 to Oklahoma State
Kids, I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but limit your bets to $2.00, thus more than protecting the $543,000 you won last week, all now safely stowed in an Irish bank per my instructions, I assume.
–Drat….Phil W. just informed me Wake’s kicker Sam Swank may not be available for Thursday’s game against Clemson. Seems Swank suffered an injury in practice.
–Preseason College Hockey – Div. I
1. Boston College
2. Michigan
3. Colorado College
4. Notre Dame
5. North Dakota
–For those of you of a certain age who grew up in the New York City area, the original Carvel ice cream shop in Hartsdale closed this week, more than seven decades after becoming a suburban institution. The store, 25 miles north of Manhattan, is making way for a new restaurant.
It was in 1934 that Tom Carvel’s ice cream truck got a flat tire on Central Avenue in Hartsdale. Forced to pull over, he did such a booming business that day that he decided to open an ice cream stand there two years later. And before you knew it, the rest was history with the creation of Fudgie the Whale and Cookie Puss ice cream cakes.
And while I’ve mentioned this before, I have to repeat it on the passing of this first Carvel shop. Back in the late 1960s, Tom Carvel, the gravelly voiced founder who did all the commercials for television and radio, had a contest where you could win a pony. That’s right, a pony. So his commercials would always end, “But if your mother won’t let you keep the pony, we’ll keep it for you at the Carvel farm.”
–Phil W. pointed out the following headline in the New York Times perhaps should have been reworked.
“Rangers 2, Lightning 1: Rangers Please Crowd and Satisfy Themselves”
–Newsweek compared the nutrition quotient for Lucky Charms and Kellogg’s Low-Fat Granola cereals. The verdict?
“One cup of General Mills’ Lucky Charms is actually healthier, with less fat and sugar and fewer calories and carbs. The Low-Fat Granola does have more fiber and protein.”
–Did you see Miley Cyrus’ 16th birthday party, part I? Goodness gracious. [First off, I thought she was older….doh!] From Derrik J. Lang of the AP:
“Cyrus celebrated the hallmark birthday at an over-the-top Disneyland celebration Sunday – even though she doesn’t actually turn 16 until Nov. 23. The theme park was closed for the supersized soiree, which included a four-song performance by the teen queen and a fireworks display above Sleeping Beauty Castle and 16 giant inflatable candles.”
5,000 attended, and it cost $250 a ticket. Cyrus’ father opened up for his daughter with a few of his own songs, including “Achy Breaky Heart,” a nightmare for those of us who like listening to country music live without having to be dragged out on the dance floor. Just let me drink my Shiner Bock in peace, will ya?!
Top 3 songs for the week 10/5/68: #1 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles) #2 “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (Jeannie C. Riley) #3 “Fire” (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)…and…#4 “Little Green Apples” (O.C.Smith) #5 “Girl Watcher” (The O’Kaysions) #6 “Slip Away” (Clarence Carter) #7 “People Got To Be Free” (The Rascals) #8 “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You” (The Bee Gees) #9 “1,2,3, Red Light” (1910 Fruitgum Company) #10 “I Say A Little Prayer” (Aretha Franklin)
NFL Rushing Quiz Answers: 1) The only two to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, twice, in the 1950s were Joe Perry, San Francisco, 1953 and 54, and Jim Brown, Cleveland, 1958 and 59. [Just two others rushed for 1,000 in a season that decade…J.D. Smith, San Francisco, 1959, and Rick Casares, Chicago Bears, 1956.] 2) O.J. Simpson was the first to rush for 250 yards in a game while with the Bills in 1973. 3) Walter Payton then upped the record to 275 in 1977, besting Simpson’s improved 273.
