White Hat History anyone?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Whistles & Stripes

OK, I was having a discussion with a co-worker of mine today in regards to Ron Jaworski replacing Joe THeismann on the Monday night football broadcast crew. As we got to talking about how horrible Joe is in the booth, I mentioned the play where his leg got broken. My co-worker had never seen it, so we went and looked it up on YouTube.

As the play ends, the first official on the field to enter the picture was wearing a white hat, but appeared to come from the defensive side of the field, so I thought it was odd that he would be wearing a white hat. So much so, that I watched it again to see if there was any way that the Referee could have come in from that angle. This time, I watched the clip all the way to the end, and at the end of the clip, you could see most of the officials huddled to talk about something, and they were ALL wearing white hats.

So, I'm curious to know when football crews went from ALL wearing white hats to just the Referee wearing them.

W&S:

Since you mentioned Ron Jaworski, here is another bit of football trivia. As most people know (at least I hope they know) that Jaws played quarterback for Youngstown State University (my alma mater (nuturing mother)), but how many people know the YSU coach for whom Jaws played and for what is he famous?

answer: Dwight "Dike" Beede, who invented the penalty flag (the first set of flags were made by Coach Beede's wife.

MTD, Sr.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

W&S:

Since you mentioned Ron Jaworski, here is another bit of football trivia. As most people know (at least I hope they know) that Jaws played quarterback for Youngstown State University (my alma mater (nuturing mother)), but how many people know the YSU coach for whom Jaws played and for what is he famous?

answer: Dwight "Dike" Beede,

Is he still around? Maybe he can answer my sidesaddle T inquiry if Jaworski doesn't.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Is he still around? Maybe he can answer my sidesaddle T inquiry if Jaworski doesn't.

You are good. You must have seen some YSU games before Jaws played there. I remember watching YSU games in the 60's where the quarterback stood directly behind the center but took more of a handoff rather that a snap back from the center.

Coach Beede retired from coaching and teaching biology at YSU at the end of fall quarter in December 1972 and drowned in the Little Beaver Creek that ran through his property less than two weeks after he retired. He liked to hike along the creek and it appeared that he slipped and fell and became incapaciated in the creek and drowned.

MTD, Sr.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

You are good. You must have seen some YSU games before Jaws played there.

No, I just exploit Internet connections. On Delphi's single wing forum (inhabited almost exclusively by coaches, I'm the one who makes it "almost") I expressed interest in the sidesaddle T, and someone a few months ago mentioned that the Polish Rifle had just mentioned on some TV show his having played in such an offense.

I remember watching YSU games in the 60's where the quarterback stood directly behind the center but took more of a handoff rather than a snap back from the center.

AFAIK the ball's delivered between the snapper's legs, but the QB is facing a sideline. I wanted to see if I could find anyone to coach that exchange to encourage someone to adopt the type of offense I have in mind here.

If the ball is handed around the snapper's leg, that could be the Power Wing, for which someone gave a Power Point presentation which is available online somewhere.

In those games you saw, did they ever snap thru to a deep back? Did you have a good enough view to see if the ball was coming to the QB's hands between the snapper's legs? And was the QB standing fairly erect rather than crouching behind the line? Because it was common going back to at least 1910 to have a QB crouching low at an angle to the center when the ball was snapped, and some double wing teams do that even today, but the sidesaddle T had a stand-up QB.

Coach Beede retired from coaching and teaching biology at YSU at the end of fall quarter in December 1972 and drowned in the Little Beaver Creek that ran through his property less than two weeks after he retired. He liked to hike along the creek and it appeared that he slipped and fell and became incapacitated in the creek and drowned.

Well I guess that answers that question. Bizarre & grisly story.

Meanwhile I found an article online by Phil Allen (in scanned PDF) from Nov. of 1992 which answered the questions asked in this thread about flags, and apparently is a short version of his 18 page booklet, The Penalty Flag in American Football, which he was offering at that time for $4. Seems there was some use of flags for penalties earlier, but unlike Mr. Beede's they didn't establish lasting precedent.

Robert