Post by FredFan7 on Apr 16, 2013 13:12:27 GMT -5
From Referee Magazine:
Old-Time Stripes and Signals
Published in Referee Magazine: September 2011 | Print | Email
Copyright© Referee Enterprises, Inc.
Important note: This article is archival in nature. Rules, interpretations, citations, mechanics and/or officiating philosophies found in this article may or may not be correct for the current year.
By Jerry Sulecki
I’m a sucker for old-time stories, especially the histories of modern-day institutions and/or the origins of modern-day practices. And if the stories are about sports, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. And, if the stories are about football, well, more is better.
So you can imagine how I felt when I came across some correspondence to the then-librarian of the Professional Football Hall of Fame, dated Dec. 5, 1973, from Dan Tehan, who began officiating in the NFL in 1930, describing how the black and white striped shirts became standard for football officials.
He also included a page from the 1929 Providence Steam Roller professional football team game program with pictures of the various signals then in use. The pictures were part of a program ad for the Morris Clothes Shop located in Providence, R.I. The ad featured expensive overcoats priced at $22.50.
Tehan’s letter, summarized in part, read, “When I started officiating we wore white broadcloth shirts, regular street shirts, with a black bow tie. The Big Ten officials in 1933 or 1934 started to wear black and white striped broadcloth shirts and the NFL adopted that type of shirt 1935. In 1937, we started to wear black and white pullover wool stripe shirts. When Elmer Layden was elected commissioner in 1941 he changed the official shirts to different colors.
“The referee,” Tehan continued, “wore black and white, the umpire wore brown and white, the field judge wore red and white and the head linesman green and white. We looked like a circus on parade. When Bert Bell was made commissioner in January of 1946 … he put the officials back in black and white striped shirts. The actual reason given for the change was that the white shirt was confusing to teams who wore white — or blue and white — or red and white.”
Though Tehan made no mention of them, the football signals are another story. Early on, when crowds were very small, infractions and the penalty yardage enforced were communicated to the participants and the crowds by simply shouting. As football — and all sports, for that matter — gained in popularity and attendance swelled, that method proved impractical. Hand signals were established and have evolved into the ones in use today in all levels of the sport, from peewee to professional football. Referee Elwood Geiges is credited with developing the football penalty signals.
As we all know, the signals are presented so that all persons involved in a contest — players, coaches, broadcasters and spectators — can be kept informed in a timely, uniform and efficient manner.
Moreover, signals were mostly standardized for the various levels of the sport: junior high, high school, college and pro. Of course, some signals have not survived the test of time, and as the game and the rules changed, so did the signals. For example, it was once illegal for a substitute to communicate with teammates upon entering the game. It’s been surmised that the rule was enacted so that coaches could not send in plays — which was probably a good thing. That signal, a hand over the mouth like one of the three monkeys, “speak no evil,” was dropped when the rule was changed.
Upon viewing the 1929 ad for the Morris Clothes Shop featuring the world’s champion Steam Roller team, some signals shown are still in use and some are long gone from an official’s communicating repertoire. The signals for offside or encroachment, holding, aiding the runner, interference with a forward pass, illegal forward pass, touchdown and safety have all remained with, in some cases, minor modifications.
On the other hand, the following signals are no longer in use at any level of football. They include a military salute for unnecessary roughness; the crossing of legs to indicate clipping; shifting of hands in a horizontal plane for a player illegally in motion (now used for illegal shift); folding arms across the chest like a delay of game signal for refusal of a penalty; the above-mentioned hand over mouth for failure to report or illegally communicating with a teammate; and fingertips touching above the head, arms forming a zero, for a penalty by both teams or offsetting penalties.
The latter signal is my personal favorite. Imagine giving those signals nowadays. We would utterly confuse the participants and most likely subject the signaling official to ridicule. Evidently, only those 13 signals were needed in 1929. The modern game has evolved to a point at which almost three times that many are in use now. Obviously, they are all needed and enthusiastic fans know most of them.
Further, maybe different-colored striped shirts seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s obvious that all those stripes would appear bewildering from the stands or to the uninitiated. A football official of my acquaintance with an off-beat sense of humor declared that he probably would have picked shirts of black and blue for the umpires and pink shirts for the referees. Wonder what he meant by that.
Jerry Sulecki, Cleveland, is a retired high school and youth football official. He has been inducted into the Cleveland Football Officials Association and Ohio High School Athletic Association Officiating halls of fame.
Old-Time Stripes and Signals
Published in Referee Magazine: September 2011 | Print | Email
Copyright© Referee Enterprises, Inc.
Important note: This article is archival in nature. Rules, interpretations, citations, mechanics and/or officiating philosophies found in this article may or may not be correct for the current year.
By Jerry Sulecki
I’m a sucker for old-time stories, especially the histories of modern-day institutions and/or the origins of modern-day practices. And if the stories are about sports, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. And, if the stories are about football, well, more is better.
So you can imagine how I felt when I came across some correspondence to the then-librarian of the Professional Football Hall of Fame, dated Dec. 5, 1973, from Dan Tehan, who began officiating in the NFL in 1930, describing how the black and white striped shirts became standard for football officials.
He also included a page from the 1929 Providence Steam Roller professional football team game program with pictures of the various signals then in use. The pictures were part of a program ad for the Morris Clothes Shop located in Providence, R.I. The ad featured expensive overcoats priced at $22.50.
Tehan’s letter, summarized in part, read, “When I started officiating we wore white broadcloth shirts, regular street shirts, with a black bow tie. The Big Ten officials in 1933 or 1934 started to wear black and white striped broadcloth shirts and the NFL adopted that type of shirt 1935. In 1937, we started to wear black and white pullover wool stripe shirts. When Elmer Layden was elected commissioner in 1941 he changed the official shirts to different colors.
“The referee,” Tehan continued, “wore black and white, the umpire wore brown and white, the field judge wore red and white and the head linesman green and white. We looked like a circus on parade. When Bert Bell was made commissioner in January of 1946 … he put the officials back in black and white striped shirts. The actual reason given for the change was that the white shirt was confusing to teams who wore white — or blue and white — or red and white.”
Though Tehan made no mention of them, the football signals are another story. Early on, when crowds were very small, infractions and the penalty yardage enforced were communicated to the participants and the crowds by simply shouting. As football — and all sports, for that matter — gained in popularity and attendance swelled, that method proved impractical. Hand signals were established and have evolved into the ones in use today in all levels of the sport, from peewee to professional football. Referee Elwood Geiges is credited with developing the football penalty signals.
As we all know, the signals are presented so that all persons involved in a contest — players, coaches, broadcasters and spectators — can be kept informed in a timely, uniform and efficient manner.
Moreover, signals were mostly standardized for the various levels of the sport: junior high, high school, college and pro. Of course, some signals have not survived the test of time, and as the game and the rules changed, so did the signals. For example, it was once illegal for a substitute to communicate with teammates upon entering the game. It’s been surmised that the rule was enacted so that coaches could not send in plays — which was probably a good thing. That signal, a hand over the mouth like one of the three monkeys, “speak no evil,” was dropped when the rule was changed.
Upon viewing the 1929 ad for the Morris Clothes Shop featuring the world’s champion Steam Roller team, some signals shown are still in use and some are long gone from an official’s communicating repertoire. The signals for offside or encroachment, holding, aiding the runner, interference with a forward pass, illegal forward pass, touchdown and safety have all remained with, in some cases, minor modifications.
On the other hand, the following signals are no longer in use at any level of football. They include a military salute for unnecessary roughness; the crossing of legs to indicate clipping; shifting of hands in a horizontal plane for a player illegally in motion (now used for illegal shift); folding arms across the chest like a delay of game signal for refusal of a penalty; the above-mentioned hand over mouth for failure to report or illegally communicating with a teammate; and fingertips touching above the head, arms forming a zero, for a penalty by both teams or offsetting penalties.
The latter signal is my personal favorite. Imagine giving those signals nowadays. We would utterly confuse the participants and most likely subject the signaling official to ridicule. Evidently, only those 13 signals were needed in 1929. The modern game has evolved to a point at which almost three times that many are in use now. Obviously, they are all needed and enthusiastic fans know most of them.
Further, maybe different-colored striped shirts seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s obvious that all those stripes would appear bewildering from the stands or to the uninitiated. A football official of my acquaintance with an off-beat sense of humor declared that he probably would have picked shirts of black and blue for the umpires and pink shirts for the referees. Wonder what he meant by that.
Jerry Sulecki, Cleveland, is a retired high school and youth football official. He has been inducted into the Cleveland Football Officials Association and Ohio High School Athletic Association Officiating halls of fame.
