Harlon Hill: From Florence State to the NFL

When Football Was Football

When Football Is Football is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Stories about unknown or undrafted collegiate players making it big in the NFL, are rare, but always entertaining!

One such case occurred in December of 1953 when Chicago Bears’ assistant coach Clark Shaughnessy was scouting the Blue-Gray all-star game in Montgomery, AL.

A local coach shared that “the best end in this part of the country wasn’t chosen to play in this game.” From the hotel lobby gossip, Shaughnessy learned about a rangy, and unstoppable, big end from Florence State Teachers College (now North Alabama) known as Harlon Hill who was not invited to the game simply because he was from a smaller college. The other coaches who had seen this marvel in person considered Hill a better prospect than any one from the bigger state schools such as Alabama or Auburn.

This guy apparently had super-hero powers on the gridiron and could easily demolish any and all opposition. And yet, during his senior season, with his team running the archaic single wing offense, the talented end captured just 12 passes for 246 yards for the year. By that time, he was a marked man on offense due to his speed and exceptional hands........

Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this episode here.

WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND

Each episode takes the listener back to the very early days of the National Football League. Author Joe Ziemba will share a forgotten or lost story from one of the NFL’s two oldest teams: The Bears and the Cardinals. Team championships, individual exploits, or long-buried items of interest from the earliest years of the NFL will be dusted off and resurrected for the listener. Not for the football faint-of-heart since these programs will document when the struggling Bears nearly went out of business or when Cardinals’ players earned $15 a game and were proud of it! It’s NFL history—with a twist!. See Joe's books below.

Cadets, Canons, and Legends: The Football History of Morgan Park Military Academy

When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL

Music for the episode - https://www.purple-planet.com/