Old Leather: An Oral History of Early Pro Football in Ohio, 1920-1935 (review)

In an effort to document a forgotten chapter in the history of professional football, Chris Willis, head of the Research Library at NFL Films, sets out to tell the story of the first fifteen seasons of football in Ohio, the "geographical center of professional football" (xiv). Through the recollections of those who played for, led, or cheered on the local teams, Old Leather offers an interesting, albeit uneven, glimpse into this period from 1920, the year the National Football League (originally named the American Professional Football Association) was established in Canton, Ohio, to 1935, the first year the NFL opened its season without a team from Ohio.

Of the nineteen interviews, twelve were completed by the author. Of those twelve, only five are oral histories—seven are second-hand accounts from relatives of deceased participants. The remaining entries come from a variety of sources including the National Football League Film Archives, the Professional Football Hall of Fame Archives, and the Canton Public Library. The author introduces each piece with a brief biography of the narrator, identifying the source of the material, and closes with a postscript that contains additional anecdotal or statistical information. Willis arranges the collection chronologically, starting with a newspaper interview with Lester Higgins, treasurer of the Canton Bulldogs from 1919-23, and ending with the author's interview of Norris Steverson, who played a total of five games with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934. With a nod to Richard Whittingham's 1984 book, What a Game they Played (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Bison Books), Willis devotes almost three-quarters of the book to former players; league president Joseph Carr (1921-39) and team owner Walter Lingo (Oorang Indians, 1922-23) also appear—rounding out the mix are two author interviews with Ohio football fans from the 1930s.

While there is nothing that might be considered groundbreaking in this collection, it is certainly worthwhile to hear Fritz Pollard (Providence Steam Rollers, 1925) talk about how he brought Paul Robeson on to play for the Akron Pros and about his great respect for Red Grange. Pollard's account of his early friendship with Jim Thorpe is particularly interesting, and Thorpe fans will delight in a number of stories from his Canton Bulldog teammates. Glenn Presnell, who played for the Detroit Lions from 1934-36, gives the greatest insight into the early workings of professional football as he recalls his journey from an All-American at the University of Nebraska to his signing with the semi-pro Irontown Tanks, who beat three NFL teams in 1930. Presnell went on to sign with the Portsmouth Spartans (who had just joined the NFL), and his rich description of Portsmouth's "Iron Man Game" against the Packers in 1932 and the subsequent "first-ever playoff game in NFL history" (72) against the Chicago Bears provides an amusing behind-the-scenes account of the infamous game that had to be played indoors at the Chicago Stadium due to a snowstorm.

The author uses a topical interview approach and he estimates each of his sessions lasted from as little as 20 to more than 60 min. If there is a theme that runs through his interviews, it is that the birthplace of professional football has been ignored if not forgotten, not just by history but, more specifically, by the Buckeye State. An Ohio native and self-proclaimed, life-long Browns fan, the author's preoccupation with documenting his narrators' sense that Ohio's contribution to the history of football is underappreciated causes him to miss opportunities to further illuminate why Ohio gave birth to the game—a line of questioning perfectly suited to oral history interviewing.

In addition, too many of the interviews are second-hand accounts and one interview appears to have been done with a family member that never knew the subject of the interview. Nevertheless, while the book does not fulfill the promise of its...