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TV's First Game
By STAN GROSSHANDLER, MD
T
his is how it was.
In the fall of 1939, the
legions of Adolf Hitler’s
Nazi Germany marched across the
borders of a weak and unprepared
Poland, igniting what would become the most horrible holocaust
the world had ever experienced.
On this continent, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt assured Americans that he would keep them out
of the conflagration in Europe.
Meanwhile, the New York World’s
Fair, history’s grandest extravaganza
of its kind, was in full swing; its
exhibits announced wondrous
things to come, including television. On the sports front, the New
York Yankees’ Murderers Row had
devastated the American League
in the regular season and was set
to do likewise, via a four-game
sweep, to the Cincinnati Reds in
the World Series.
The headlines in the sports section of the October 1st edition of
The New York Times disclosed that
Notre Dame had won its 300th
game the previous day, defeating
Purdue 3-0 when a third-string
placekicker booted a field goal in
the last minute of play; elsewhere,
a powerful New York University
squad had defeated Colgate.
Historical Footnote
A very brief article, placed in-
conspicuously at the bottom of
the page, reported that another
local power, Fordham, had beaten
little-known Waynesburg (Pa.)
College 34-7.
The second sentence of the
newspaper account was casual in
its summation: “The Rams had the
televised game well in hand by
halftime.” Fordham coach Jimmy
Crowley, formerly one of the immortal Four Horsemen of Notre Dame,
was quoted as being unsatisfied with
his team’s performance; perhaps
the Rams were looking ahead to
some upcoming big games on their
schedule, the coach suggested.
The story went on to note that,
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to the reporter’s surprise, a 153pound sophomore halfback for
Waynesburg bad scored the game’s
first touchdown by running right
over Fordham’s All-Amcrica-candidate tackle, John Kuzman, and continuing for 63 yards.
But no further mention was
made of a history--making fact: The
game was shown on TV!
“The game was played at Randalls
Island Stadium in the Bronx,” recalled Bill Meighen, a freshman
member of that Waynesburg team,
who later became a sportswriter.
“There were about 9,000 people
in the stands that day, which for
Fordham, then a major national
power, was probably a modest
crowd, but for us was the biggest
we had ever seen.”
“On game day,” Meighen continued, “We suited up about 30
guys, and when Fordham came out
with 70 we were really impressed.
It seemed as if one player was bigger than the next. Finally I spotted
one who I thought was small.
“I later walked over near the
small man and realized he was
Jimmy Blumenstock, their star halfback and a much-touted candidate
for All-America.”
Players Look Back
The Waynesburg center, Mo
Scarry, a freshman, was destined to
become a star for Cleveland in the
NFL, and later, a coach with the
Miami Dolphins.
“It was a terrific thrill for a group
of country boys like us to get to
New York,” said Scarry. “In those
days Fordham was a real power,
and this game was strictly a warmup
for them. For us, it meant a good
source of revenue. Frank Wolf, our
coach, was a legend among smallcollege coaches. He tried to schedule a big game every season, and
his teams always gave a good account of themselves.”
“The fact that the game was televised was of no significance to
us,” said Dom Principe, Fordham’s
star fullback, who later played pro
football for the New York Giants.
“It is really very difficult to recall
much about it, other than the fact
we considered them an easy team
and were quite surprised when
they scored first.”
Referee Jack McPhee, one of the
top officials of the era, vividly
recalled the unusual circumstances
surrounding the game.
“When I walked on to the field, I
saw what looked like a railroad boxcar parked on the 40-yard line, with
a camera on a tripod nearby. As I
had to get the game under way, I
soon forgot about this curious
setup, but I later realized that I
probably called the first penalty
ever seen on a TV screen.
“When I returned to my home
in Youngstown, Ohio,” McPhee continued, “I told my wife about it.
With little fanfare,
football made its
television debut
50 years ago.
The rest is history
She was all excited. asking me what
television was and how did it work.
Of course, I did not know. I have
read that there were about 200 TV
sets in the area and about 500 people probably viewed the game.”
TV Technology
The game was televised by RCA
for NBC station W2-XBS. Two iconoscope cameras, recently patented
by RCA, were used. It was soon
apparent that closeup shots were
of better quality than distant views.
Images from the on-field cameras
were sent first to a relay station 10
miles from the stadium, and then
by cable to the top of the Empire
State Building, where a large transmitter broadcast the signal to the
smattering of television sets in the
New York City area.
There were problems. The picture was disturbed frequently by
electrical interference: In other
early televised games, if both teams
wore uniforms of a similar color
it was difficult to tell them apart
on the black-and-white screen.
Bill Stern, who broadcast the
Fordham-Waynesburg game, was
the leading radio sports announcer
of the day; he also became one of
the first victims of the infant medium of television. Notorious for
spicing up a game on radio by
inventing spectacular events that
never occurred, Stern soon discovered that TV did not permit such
embellishment. His career ended
soon after his television debut.
Out on the field, following the
early and unexpected touchdown
by Waynesburg, Fordham quickly
took charge. Operating from their
customary “Notre Dame box" formation, the Rams countered when
Steve Kozlo swept left end behind
a devastating block by quarterback
Bill Krywicki. Kozlo’s touchdown
tied the score.
The eventual 34-7 rout included
Fordham touchdowns by Len Eshmont, who had led the nation in
rushing in 1936; Ralph Frigden, who
scored twice; and future pro star
Principe, who tallied a single TD.
After the Breakthrough
Later in the fall of 1939, the NFL
was seen on TV when the Brooklyn
Dodgers held a scrimmage at the
World’s Fair for the sake of the
cameras. Four more college games
also were televised; these featured
small schools, including St. Bonaventure, Scranton, CCNY, LIU and
Catholic University.
A thief concern among colleges
was that television would keep the
fans away from the games. Who
would want to sit in a cold, rainy
stadium to watch a game that could
be viewed in the comfort of one’s
living room? Another serious consideration was the cost of a TV set:
the top-of-the-line model, a Clifton,
sold for $600, a sum that was
beyond most people’s means in the
aftermath of the Depression.
Meanwhile, the NBC network
was initially less than ecstatic over
its new “gimmick.” On an investment of $100,000, NBC received
very little return in the early days
of the medium.
Looking back, it seems amazing
that what was to become the allconsuming giant of the sports world
had such a modest inception. The
first televised game involved colleges that today play their football
in relative obscurity, and whose
players at the time evinced complete indifference to the new
gadget. Most surprising of all, the
birth announcement of a brave
new world was buried in a few
lines of type, at the bottom of the
sports page.
From The Main Event,
Jan., 1990, reprinted
with permission