Fascinating and Obscure Football Trivia (Part 4) Quiz

Answer: Ronnie Lott

Sauce Gardner received 43 First Team votes and 7 Second Team votes from the Associated Press. Sauce told the press, "That's a big deal to me. It was one of my goals before training camp. It's something I pray for. I worked so hard for it. It's a true blessing for sure." Gardner's stats for the season included 75 tackles (51 solo tackles), two interceptions, and 20 passes defended which was a league-high. In 1981, Ronnie Lott was a first round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers, and became a First Team All-Pro as a rookie and eventually became an NFL Hall of Famer.

Answer: John Elway

Surprisingly, out of these quarterbacks, it is the Hall of Fame legend John Elway who has not passed for consecutive 400-yard games.

Billy Volek of the Tennessee Titans: December 13, 2004, for 426 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs, and December 19 for 492 yards against the Oakland Raider. Matt Cassel of the New England Patriots: November 23, 2008, for 400 yards against the New York Jets, and November 23 for 415 yards against the Miami Dolphins. Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers: September 11, 2011, for 422 yards against the Arizona Cardinals, and September 18 for 432 yards against the Green Bay Packers.

Answer: Weeb Ewbank

Weeb Ewbank was a basketball coach for the JV squad at Brown University, a team that included amongst its players, Joe Paterno. Ewbank was also an assistant football coach at Brown under Rip Engle who went on to coach Penn State's football team, and was succeeded by the legendary Joe Paterno.

Answer: Archie Griffin

While in college, playing for The Ohio State Buckeyes, Archie Griffin ran for at least 100 yards for 31 straight games over three seasons from September 1973 to November of 1975. And that's not including his rushing over 100 yards in Rose Bowl games. That indeed propelled Griffin to become the first player to ever win two consecutive Heisman Trophy awards for best college player. It's even more impressive when you consider the closest anyone's come to that is Steve Owens who had 100 yards rushing in 18 straight games playing for Oklahoma, and also winning a Heisman Trophy.

Answer: Cliff Battles

On October 8, 1933, in the season after Cliff Battles won the National Football League rushing title as a rookie with the Boston Braves, he became the first player ever to rush for more than 200 yards in a game. His newly named Boston Redskins had played the New York Giants, and Battles rushed 16 times for 215 yards, and one touchdown.

The other three reputable running backs actually never even broke the 100-yard mark for rushing in one game. Kevin Faulk played his entire career with the Patriots, holding that team's record for all-time all-purpose yards (12,140 yards.) In the 2000s, he was one of six players to rush and receive for over 3,000 yards. Sony Michel, also a long-time successful Patriots running back, also never broke 100 yards in one game. Ameer Abdullah had over 100 rushing yards in 24 games as a collegiate for Nebraska, but as a pro with the Detroit Lions he never rushed for over 100 yards in a game.

Answer: John Madden

Andy Reed had a losing record in his first season as the Philadelphia Eagles, as well as in his 7th season with them and his last season with them. Don Shula had only one losing season out of his 20 career seasons, going 6-8 in 1976 with the Dolphins. Tom Landry had a losing record in his first five season with the Cowboys starting in 1960; after that he had 21 consecutive non-losing seasons.
In 10 seasons, coaching the Oakland Raiders, John Madden had a winning record in each one of them from 1969 to 1978, ending his career with a 103-32-7.

Answer: William "Pudge" Heffelfinger

In 1892, William Heffelfinger was paid $500 in secret, to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. During the 1880s some athletic clubs did "pay" some players in non-monetary form; instead, there were certain benefits offered, such as trophies that could be pawned, or gainful employment at the club.

Answer: Dick "Night Train" Lane

A great All-Pro defensive back, Dick "Night Train" Lane never participated in The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game, aka College All-Star Football Classic, a preseason between the NFL champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous season.

He had never attended college and his pro teams (Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals, and Detroit Lions) didn't win NFL championships while he was on the team. Yes, future president Gerald Ford played in the 1935 game (won by the Chicago Bears 5-0), perhaps not so surprising for those who know he was a star at Michigan in college.

But yes, believe it or not, baseball legend Jackie Robinson played for U.C.L.A. on the College All-Star team in the 1941 game-it was his final football game.

The Chicago Bears beat the collegiates 37-13. And Olympic legend Jesse Owens, played in the 1938 game as a running back. They beat the Washington Redskins 28-16. These games attracted huge crowds.

Answer: Brett Favre

Manning, Brady, and Rodgers have each won as many as or more times than Brett Favre, but Favre is the only one who won it three years in a row (1995, 1996, 1997). Manning has won 5 times (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013), the most of anybody between 1957 when it was first awarded and 2023. Rodgers is second, with 4 wins (2011, 2014, 2020, 2021), and Brady won three times also, along with Jim Brown, and Johnny Unitas.

Answer: Its shape is "oblate spheroid"

The shape of a football is actually a prolate spheroid. An oblate spheroid shape is more like an M&M candy. A regulation football weighs 14 to 15 oz (397 to 425g). College football balls can be slightly smaller than NFL footballs and have different length and circumference dimensions: NFL footballs are 11-11.25 inches long, and most states allow college footballs to be 10.5 to 11.25 inches long.

The Horween Leather Co. in Chicago supplies the NFL with its footballs, and the leather for the footballs are not cowhides or pigskins, but come from heavy steer, from ranches in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.