Does Anybody Know Wendell Teets!?

I've spent the bulk of the summer cleaning BBQ equipment and slinging pork to great people. I've watched A LOT of mid-late 80's NFL football and have managed to read a lot of interesting articles on and offline about (yes) football, local history, cooking.... it's a long list this year.

You can never tell what you're going to find. 

You never know where you might end up when you open the pages of a book:

I generally will pick up a copy of any pigskin related Ronald Press book due to the fact that they just FEEL so damn substantial. These books have thick paper and strong spines... As it were, I received a 2nd Edition copy of Ronald Press' Football Techniques illustrated in the mail the other day and what I found inside was a neatly folded copy of the original shipping slip from 1968:

It is About How and Why These Systems Came To Be.

"...There are no bars as to race, religion, or social status. A man who is willing to play like a man gets a man's chance. Thus it may be that men like Bernie Bierman are making a finer contribution to the civilization of our time than is today generally recognized."

John L. Griffith,
Commissioner of Athletics
Intercollegiate Conference
August 1937

As I sweat over a hot smoker on a humid Saturday afternoon, I pondered. Although it began as such, my fascination with the classic football texts is no longer mainly about the x's and o's that specific systems or schemes present. I became fascinated with understanding the thought processes and philosophies of the coaches/authors.

 

 

How and why have these systems come to be?

Bierman gets right down to brass tacks:

"What makes a great coach?" he asks, while conveying a story in which Pop Warner replied: "Great Material"

The Importance of the Forward (Pass) Part I

When I was a younger man, the forward of a football book was something that I typically glossed over. I wanted to see the diagrams, the pictures, the trick plays. Some many years ago, I handed over a cherished copy of "Guide to Modern Football Offense" by Ray Graves to a dear friend to read. I noticed that he immediately turned his attention to the introduction. Well... as Sargent Elias Grodin said: "...the worm has definitely turned..."

What is the Football Book List You Say?

Now gone, the Football Book List was just what its name implies. WHY is there a Football Book List? Well, hard to say EXACTLY why, but over the years it has served as a way point, or better yet, a starting point for researching the amazingly varied history of America's great game.

You may find it courtesy of the Wayback Machine here.

First, a bit about yours truly. My name is Damon Betz. I played football many years ago (as it were).

I have always had the knack for the game.
As I grow older this knack has diminished quite steadily: Creaky knees and a stiff back are testaments to the many battles won and lost on the gridiron.

It was prior to my participation in the SEC (the BEST conference in the land) that I discovered several books in my high school's library:

 "Championship Football by 12 Great Coaches" (Prentice Hall  1962), "Run and Shoot Football: Offense of the Future"(Glenn Tiger Ellison 1965), "The Pro-T Offense in High School Football" (Harry Gamble 1962) and "Modern Single Wing Football" (Charles Caldwell 1951) are a few of the vaults unlocked. These titles, along with the periodical Athletic Journal spurred my interest in the science of and into the "X's and O's" of football.

Diagram from Run and Shoot Football Offense of the Future

It wasn't until about 6 years ago did I really find another interest, one that surpasses, but that does not supersede the X's and