NFL Football: A History of America's New National Pastime

273 Pages·2014·2.81 MB·English

by  Richard C. Crepeau

NFL FOOTBALL
A History of America’s New National Pastime
Richard C. Crepeau
NFL Football
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Sport and Society
Series Editors
Randy Roberts
Aram Goudsouzian
Founding Editors
Benjamin G. Rader
Randy Roberts
A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.
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NFL Football
A History of America’s
New National Pastime
Richard C. Crepeau
University of Illinois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
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© 2014 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crepeau, Richard C., 1941–
NFL football : a history of America’s new national pastime /
Richard C. Crepeau.
pages cm — (Sport and society)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978–0–252–03289–9 (hardback) —
isbn 978–0–252–08020–3 (paperback) —
isbn 978–0–252–09653–2 (e-book)
1. National Football League—History. 2. Football—
United States—History. I. Title.
gv955.5.n35c74 2014
796.332'6406—dc23 2014007470
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publication completed with a pass from
Figure Foundation
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Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction ix
I The FormaTIve YearS
1 The First Pros 3
2 Depression and War 20
3 The NFL Comes of Age 33
II The rozeLLe era
4 Moving to Center Stage 55
5 A Troubled Decade 74
6 The Perfect Television Game 92
7 The Cartel 112
8 Unraveling 126
9 Labor Conflict 135
III The New NFL
10 A New Era 155
11 Defending the Shield 171
12 Super Sunday 191
Postscript 209
Appendix 213
Notes 219
Bibliography 237
Index 245
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acknowledgments
I want to thank several people who have been indispensable in the comple-
tion of this project. Michael Oriard offered both guidance and encouragement
in the early stages of research. Holly Pinheiro, my research assistant at the
University of Central Florida, located sources and took notes on several im-
portant biographies and other works. Mel Adelman deserves special thanks,
as he read the manuscript twice and offered important corrections and advice.
Bill Regier, the director of the University of Illinois Press, offered important
guidance throughout the course of the project. His patience through many
delays was above and beyond anything one could reasonably expect and is
greatly appreciated. Finally, to Pat Crepeau, special thanks for your patience
and love throughout the research and writing process, as well as the nearly
fifty years of having to deal with me.
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Introduction
The history of the National Football League unfolds across time, in many di-
mensions, carried along by those forces that have shaped modern American
history. It was the product of forces transforming twentieth-century Amer-
ica into a consumer society pursuing leisure. It was a product of changing
technologies: the automobile, radio, television, and the Internet. It was the
product of the willingness of government at all levels to subsidize sport. It
benefited from an increasing concern over issues of masculinity in a seden-
tary world, and from expressions of masculinity through vicarious violence.
Above all it was the product of any number of individuals who understood
how to manipulate and exploit these forces.
The NFL has had its ups and downs, its champions and its critics, and a great
deal of internal turmoil. Through it all the league survived and prospered to
become both an obsession and the new national pastime. NFL commissioner
Pete Rozelle is at the center of this history, a force in his own right who took
the NFL to its position of prominence. In many ways he was simply the right
man in the right place at the right time. All of the NFL’s achievements and
problems seem to pass through Pete Rozelle. Those who came before him set
the stage, and those who followed him rearranged the scenery. This is the
story of a struggle to build a successful sports business by entrepreneurs with
large egos who grasped for power and markets. It is the story of success and
failure and the creation of a national obsession. This history seeks to place
the history of the NFL within the larger context of American social, economic,
and technological history.
There have been a number of written histories of the National Football
League. They have varied in purpose and quality, but all have offered some-
thing to fans and to others who might be interested in professional football.
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