NFL in the 1930s Trivia Quiz

Answer: NFL title games were to be played indoors

It didn't seem like a good thing at the time, when the game was forced on to an 80 yard field, covered with sawdust and animal dung from a circus, and surrounded by hockey boards. But the 1932 game between the Bears and Spartans proved to be so popular, that several new rules were adopted by the NFL, brought on by conditions in the game. The ball had previously been put into play at the spot where a previous play ended, but the hockey boards made that impractical and even dangerous. So, for the game and for subsequent seasons, the ball would be spotted no closer to the sidelines than the hashmarks.

NFL rules in 1932 made it illegal to throw a forward pass from closer than five yards behind the line of scrimmage, when Chicago scored its first touchdown in the game on a pass disputed under this rule, the rule was changed for 1933 to allow any forward pass thrown from behind the line of scrimmage. Perhaps most importantly, the league divided into eastern and western divisions, with a guarantee of a championship game every year (until 1932, the league title went to the team with the best regular-season record). The Bears won the 1932 title, beating the Spartans 9-0, but the real winners were the fans, who saw the game open up and become more exciting. The players probably appreciated the NFL not requiring games to be played on sawdust fields covered with dung.

Answer: Whizzer White

Byron "Whizzer" White - he despised the nickname given to him in college for his speedy feet and agile mind - was an elite running back before duty to country and law called him away from athletics. As a senior at University of Colorado in 1937, he set a record for all-purpose yards that lasted until Barry Sanders broke it in 1988. Football's Pittsburgh Pirates briefly lured him away from law school by offering him a contract twice as high as what the NFL's next highest-paid player was earning. White led the NFL in rushing twice, his rookie year with 567 yards, and 1940 with 514, then went on to finish law school.

Valedictorian of both his Colorado and Yale Law classes, he worked in naval intelligence in World War II (he was the lead investigator into the PT-109 crash that made John F. Kennedy a hero. The two had met previously while White was a Rhodes Scholar in England). The Kennedy connection brought White to Washington in 1961 as the second-in-command at the US Department of Justice, where he served briefly until being nominated to the US Supreme Court a year later. White served on the court until stepping down in 1993.

Answer: Earl "Curly" Lambeau

Lambeau, who coached the Green Bay Packers from their 1921 inception through the 1949 season, led the Packers to titles in 1929-31 (the first time the rare feat of winning three consecutive NFL championships had been accomplished), 1936, 1939, and 1944. Upon his death in 1965, the Packers renamed City Stadium in Green Bay "Lambeau Field" in his honor.

Answer: St. Louis Browns

The Reds (who played in 1933), Indians (1931), and Pirates (1930-39, before becoming the Steelers) had plenty of company in the NFL, in terms of being namesakes of baseball teams. Other NFL teams with baseball-inspired nicknames included the Boston Braves (who became the Boston Redskins after their inaugural season in 1932, then moved to Washington in 1937), Brooklyn Dodgers (1930-44), Detroit Tigers (1921), New York Yankees (1927), and Washington Senators (1921).

Answer: Don Hutson

Although there were several star quarterbacks in the NFL by the mid-1930s, their passes were typically caught by a running back standing a few yards downfield. Hutson became the NFL's first star receiver. His first NFL play was a long pass for a touchdown, and he must have liked it, because he did the same thing 98 more times in his career, adding three rushing touchdowns to give him 102 in all. Upon his retirement in 1945 his 488 receptions were more than twice as many as the 190 passes caught by the next-closest player.

His record of 99 receiving touchdowns lasted 44 years before being broken in 1989 by Steve Largent.

Answer: The game was televised

500 home viewers, almost certainly a smaller audience than those watching at Ebbets Field, joined many curious people viewing the game on monitors at New York's World's Fair, as the Dodgers beat the Eagles, 23-14. Although the broadcast was often impossible to see when clouds or shadows left the image too dark, many modern fans might have liked that game more than the spectacles of today.

There were no commercials, and it finished in a bit over two and a half hours.

Answer: Shooting him

"There's only one way to defense him," Owen said when asked about stopping Nagurski: "shoot him before he leaves the dressing room!" A hard-hitting running back (his own teammate Red Grange once compared a Nagurski hit to an electric shock), Nagurski was also an outstanding blocker and tackler in the two-way NFL of the 1930s. Teams that packed their defensive lines hoping to stop him got a nasty surprise, Nagurski was also an excellent passer.

He was a master at taking a handoff, heading for the line, then stopping and making a quick pass to a receiver, who would often be open because of the defense moving up to stop Nagurski.

He threw two touchdown passes in the 1933 NFL championship game, helping the Bears beat the Giants 23-21 for the title.

Answer: Playing an annual game on Thanksgiving

Except for during World War II, the NFL has had Thanksgiving games every season from its 1920 beginnings and onward. The city of Chicago hosted a game every year from 1920 to 1933, often a matchup between the Cardinals and the Bears. But in 1934, Detroit owner Richards, hoping to draw some attention to his team (they had just moved there from Portsmouth, OH), hosted a game in which the Chicago Bears beat the Lions 19-16.

After that, the Lions have played on Thanksgiving every year except 1939 and 1940 (when there was some national disagreement over when the holiday should be celebrated) and the 1941-44 war years. For a while during the 1950s, their game was the only one on Thanksgiving; since 1966, it has been a tradition for the Lions to host an early-afternoon Thanksgiving game, followed shortly by a second game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys.

Answer: "Slingin' Sammy Baugh" (for his passing arm)

The Redskins moved to Washington from Boston in 1937 and drafted Sammy out of Texas Christian University. Washington's publicity-savvy owner George Preston Marshall ordered Baugh to arrive in town wearing a cowboy hat and boots, neither of which he normally wore. Baugh complained that the boots hurt his feet, but that was the last problem he had that year.

As a rookie quarterback, he led the team to their first-ever NFL title, throwing three touchdown passes as the Redskins beat the Bears 28-21 in the championship. Baugh's best NFL season was 1943, when he led the NFL in passing, punting, and interceptions (as a defensive back). Baugh's Redskins played in six NFL title games, winning twice.

Answer: Rushed for 1,000 yards in a season

Feathers ran for 1,004 yards in just 119 carries, averaging 8.4 yards per carry, in 1934. The previous league record had been 809 yards. It wasn't until 1947 when another player rushed for 1,000 yards. The league expanded its schedule to 14 games in 1961, and to 16 games in 1978, making it far easier to reach 1,000 yards than it once had been, yet still, in a league with more than 30 teams, playing almost twice as many games as Feathers did, it remains unusual to see more than 20 runners reach that mark. Unfortunately for Feathers, his 1934 rookie year was by far his best in the NFL.

He played until 1940, but more than half of his career rushing yards, receiving yards, and touchdowns came in his first season.