Let There Be Light: Football’s First Night Game

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Let There Be Light: Football’s First Night Game   On a pleasant autumn evening in 1892, Mansfield Normal School and Wyoming Seminary ushered football out of the dark ages by playing the greatest game never seen. The schools clashed on September 28 in what is acknowledged today as football’s first night game, although the primitive illumination scarcely pierced the darkness. Not only did the thousands of fans at Mansfield’s Smythe Park...
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Late Bloomer to Soaring Eagle: An Interview with Football Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Late Bloomer to Soaring Eagle: An Interview with Football Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael On November 4, 1979, the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Cleveland Browns before a packed house of 69,000 die-hard fans at Veterans Stadium. Although both teams boasted 6–3 win–loss records and were vying for their seventh victory of the season, everyone’s mind was on Harold Carmichael’s streak of consecutive games with at least one pass reception. Carmichael, the Birds’ gangly wide receiver, did...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Seventy-five years ago, unbridled industrial enterprise took its toll on the mill town of Donora in southwestern Pennsylvania when a low-lying smog of chemical toxins from the local steel and zinc plants enveloped the community. The Donora Smog of October 1948 claimed the lives of 20 people during the five-day crisis, later about 50 others, and caused long-term respiratory problems for nearly...
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Golden Panthers by Sam Sciullo Jr.

Posted by on Mar 14, 2022 in | Comments Off on Golden Panthers by Sam Sciullo Jr. Golden Panthers Pitt’s Ten-Year Affair with Football Prominence (1973–1982) by Sam Sciullo Jr. America Through Time, 224 pp., paperback $24.99 The 50th anniversary of the Pirates 1971 World Series championship reminds Pittsburgh fans of all they celebrated in the 1970s: Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th hit, the Immaculate Reception, four Super Bowl championships, and a second World Series win in 1979....
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Charles F. West: Athlete, Physician and Trailblazer

Posted by on Mar 10, 2022 in | Comments Off on Charles F. West: Athlete, Physician and Trailblazer On September 18, 2021, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) dedicated a Pennsylvania Historical Marker honoring Charles Fremont West (1899–1979) of the W&J Class of 1924. West was a true hometown hero, as he was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, attended Washington High School, and then graduated from W&J. The dedication was...
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100 Games: The Penn State–Pitt Rivalry

Posted by on Mar 12, 2020 in | Comments Off on 100 Games: The Penn State–Pitt Rivalry It “leaves an everlasting impression on you because, in Pennsylvania, it’s the only game that counts,” wrote Tim Panaccio about the rivalry between the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers in his 1982 book Beast of the East: Penn State vs. Pitt. In the same breath, he added, “Records don’t mean a thing, just who wins this game.” Panaccio’s...
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John William Heisman, Football Innovator

Posted by on Mar 12, 2020 in | Comments Off on John William Heisman, Football Innovator John William Heisman (1869–1936) was an athlete turned college sports coach who became one of football’s greatest innovators. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Heisman grew up near Titusville, Crawford County, in northwestern Pennsylvania. He played football at Titusville High School and then at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. He received a law degree but, diverted by an eye injury,...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Mar 9, 2020 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter Football, fine art, and festivals. Throughout the years, Pennsylvanians have received national acclaim in all three fields. Each has become a vital part of our shared heritage, engaging residents and representing the commonwealth’s rich and diverse culture. In this edition, you’ll find three outstanding features on prominent examples of these activities in the Keystone State. Football has been...
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Chuck Noll by Michael MacCambridge

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Chuck Noll by Michael MacCambridge Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work by Michael MacCambridge University of Pittsburgh Press, 504 pp., cloth $27.95 There is a saying in the world of professional sports that a coach will not know for five to ten years whether a decision to accept a job was the right choice. That maxim, in essence, says everything about the risks of making a career out of professional coaching, and it is the theme...
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Keep the Boys in College! How World War I Produced a Penn State Football Legend

Posted by on Dec 13, 2016 in | Comments Off on Keep the Boys in College! How World War I Produced a Penn State Football Legend Pennsylvanians who remember Glenn Killinger (1898–1988) often envision the legendary coach of West Chester State Teachers’ College football and baseball teams during the decades that spanned 1933 to 1970. His name often comes up in conversations about Paul “Bear” Bryant as one of the two unbending football minds who led the North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters to one of the...
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