RECAP: Gridiron Games at the Pro Football Hall of Fame

The weekend of August 24th and 25th was a re-letter weekend for tabletop football fans, as about 30 of us traveled to Canton, OH for "Gridiron Games at the Hall of Fame!" For those of us for whom tabletop cards and dice football games have been a passion, the opportunity to play our games INSIDE the Pro Football Hall of Fame was almost too good to be true! The APBA Football Club's Geoff Giordano deserves a ton of credit and accolades for putting this together. After initially hosting this as an APBA event, Geoff opened this year's event to other football game platforms. I was grateful to be asked--it had long been a goal of mine to visit the HOF, but to be able to not only visit but play football games made this a weekend to remember. Here's a recap of the weekend, from my vantage point.

I arrived in Canton Friday evening. Dinner was already in progress at the hotel restaurant so I jumped right in. Got to visit with APBA HOF Pete Simonelli--I remembered Pete from my APBA Journal days in the 1970s. Also met Eric Regret, John Thompson, Bob Corsarie and a number of other long-time sports gamers whom I had corresponded with but never met in person. Also got to talk with old pals ST Patrick, Al Wilson, James Cast.

Saturday morning, the games began. Each game company in attendance--including APBA, Strat-O-Matic, Breakaway Football, Matchup Football, Fast Drive Football--hosted their own activities. I held a "Remember the World Football League" series with Second Season, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1974 World Football League with the newly released '74 WF L team cards. It was an amazing time remembering a fun chapter of pro football history. Here are the game recaps (coaches for the teams)...

Florida Blazers 7, at Hawaiians 14: (Keith Curtis, Mike Canestrari) The Blazers lost despite out-gaining the Hawaiians by 124 yards. Two fumbles cost the Blazers, including one in their own territory that led to the Hawaiians winning score. The Hawaiians scored on the game's opening drive with Randy Johnson at QB. They struggled after Johnson got hurt and Norris Weese took over. Tommy Reamon ran for 124 yards and 1 TD on 22 carries for the Blazers.

New York Stars 18, at Memphis Southmen 14: (John Thompson, George Rousos) The Stars built up an 18-6 lead and then held off the Southmen's comeback attempt. A pair of Bob Etter field goals gave Memphis an early 6-0 lead. But New York scored twice in the second period, a 17-yard run by Andy Huff and a 25-yard Tom Sherman pass to Al Young. Moses Lajterman added a 38-yard field goal to start the second half, but then the favored Southmen saw their vaunted ground game take hold. Willie Spencer (17 carries, 108 yards) short TD run made it 18-14, and Memphis drove to the New York five yard-line as time expired.

Houston Texans 26, at Birmingham Americans 27: (George Kaldis, Keith Curtis) The Americans scored 27 unanswered points after the Texans jumped to a 26-0 lead. In the first quarter, Warren McVea ran for 2 TDs for the Texans, and Garland Boyette added a 13-yard scoop and score. Boyette also intercepted a George Mira pass. The Texans added a Charlie Durkee FG with 10:30 left in the first half. The Americans then roared back, and George Mira threw 2 TDs to Dennis Homan. Mira went 21 - 33 for 222 yards. Earl Sark's 33-yard FG with 8:30 left gave the Americans the lead. The Texans began moving again on their final drive, but Durkee missed a 32-yard FG with 45 seconds left.

Jacksonville Sharks 16, at Detroit Wheels 7: (Mark Kroynovich, Charles Helms) The Wheels took an early and, like their real-life counterpart, hung tough before ultimately falling short. The Wheels defense limited Sharks QB Reggie Oliver to just 15 yards passing on 3 of 15 passes, and 156 total yards of offense. Unfortunately, the Detroit offense was similarly stagnant, registering just six first downs. Bubba Wyche finished with 11 of 21 passing for 205 yards passing but threw two costly interceptions in scoring territory.

Portland Storm 8, at Southern California Sun 38: (Harvey Couch, Keith Avallone) It was just 7-0 at the half but the Sun chased away the Storm in the second half with 29 unanswered points. Kermit Johnson led the way with 77 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while Tony Adams was 10 for 18 passing for 125 yards and a touchdown. The Sun had a 19-8 advantage in first downs, and a 3-0 advantage in forced turnovers. Pete Beathard started for the Storm, was 3 for 9 with an interception, sacked twice. Greg Barton replaced Beathard in the second half, but fared even worse (3 of 11, 32 yards).

Chicago Fire 34, at Philadelphia Bell 32: (Keith Curtis, George Kaldis) Both the Fire and Bell scored 4 touchdowns and a field goal. However, the Fire edged the Bell with 3 Cyril Pinder action points. Pinder also ran for 144 yards on 23 carries and 1 TD. King Corcoran threw for 251 yards and 3 TDs for the Bell, and they led 32-19 with 12 minutes left. Virgil Carter led the Fire's comeback, and threw the winning TD to James Scott with 2:30 left. Jack Dolbin also caught a TD from Carter, and led the Fire with 4 receptions for 121 yards.

Mark Kroynovich (Jacksonville Sharks), Charles Helms (Detroit Wheels) take a photo break during their game. Also pictured, George Rousos, John Thompson, Mike Canestrari, Keith Curtis and Harvey Couch. "Remember the WFL!"

Post-game impressions: yep, it really felt like the World Football League. Not a lot of superior talent, but plenty of entertainment. I didn't remember it, but the WFL was really, REALLY a "run-first" football league. That certainly played out in our games, except for the barn-burner between the Fire and Bell.

Lunchtime arrived, and Geoff had arranged a catered lunch for us--the food was great AND it allowed us to keep on gaming! PLUS, we had a special, un-announced drop-in visit from pro football legend and Hall of Fame member Freddy Biletnikoff! “Da Ray-dizzzzzz!”

I was always a fan of Fred Biletnikoff, and thought it was pretty cool that he played in the CFL as well!

The afternoon session started with a Great Teams tournament with Al Wilson's Fast Drive Football. I had the '77 Broncos, and got obliterated by the 1963 New York Giants coached by James Cast, 42-23. The Giants scored twice on fumble recoveries, and their high-flying offense did the rest. I did get some consolation in the fact that the '63 Giants wound up making the championship game of the tournament before falling to the '68 Jets (coached by John Thompson).

The scoreboard says it all: a total shellacking at the hands of "Sport Caster" James Cast, as Al Wilson smiles his approval! Hey, at least it was FAST...

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent with Fury Football. First, I played the new head-to-head Fury cards with Cooper Gilbert. Then came a stream of game demos with a number of folks. Mark Kroynovich and I reprised our Second Season coaching roles in a Fury context, (Jacksonville vs. So. Cal). Then I oversaw a game between Mark Miller vs. John Thompson using the Pro season cards we offered as a newsletter freebie, Bills vs. Chiefs. In a true "art imitates life" moment, Josh Allen led the Bills to a 26-14 lead only to see Patrick Mahomes spark a comeback on KC's final possession to steal a 27-26 win. The rest of the afternoon was a mix of WFL Remix and original Fury League matchups, in a variety of formats: head-to-head cards, head-to-head standard version and solo mode (auto play call), depending on what was most interesting to the other person.

We wrapped up play at 5pm and then it was time to tour the hall. I could do a whole blog post on THAT! Suffice it to say, if you're a fan of pro football, a visit to the hall of fame should be on your bucket list.

I LOVE this photo! From left: Al Wilson, Cooper Gilbert, Keith Avallone, Paul Salzgeber, Harvey Couch. Top Row: Vince Lombardi.

Sunday started with APBA football, something I had been looking forward to for a long time. Me and Geoff had played a hybrid game of tabletop football at PLAAY-Dot-CON 2023, '69 Saints and Steelers, first half in APBA, second half in Second Season. This game was all APBA. As I've mentioned a number of times, I played APBA football incessantly as a kid. Me and my brothers and neighborhood pals set up our own league, and we played season after season. Our league was founded with the 1969 and 1970 APBA "XF" players--(basically because it was all we could afford!) So while these guys were scrubs in the NFL, many of them became legends in our league. Guys like Gary Wood, Tom Smiley, Johnny Woitt and Edd Hargett. I brought a collection of "all-stars" from the APBA league we ran when I was a kid. I relished the chance for these guys to have their moment in the pro football Hall of Fame! The hard part was WHO to play them AGAINST? I suggested to Geoff that maybe he could play a team from the "era," I threw out the '76 Giants as a candidate. Not really realizing how BAD they were--a 3-11 team with an interim coach.

I was thinking that my AFA (American Football Association) guys could compete against elite NFL teams, based on the strength of the "R" and "P" columns. In reality, my AFA all-stars had a hard time hanging with the bottom-feeder Giants! The combination of having no kicking specialists (I used Wood as my kicker, Parilli as my punter), no "4" rated defensive backs at all, no "A" or "B" receivers and so on more than offset the spiked-up abilities of Smiley and Wood. Still, it was a great game, one of the best I've ever played, APBA or otherwise. I fell behind 10-0. We traded field goals 13-3. Wood hit Poage for a loooong TD, 82 yards, suddenly it was 13-10!

Gary Wood and Ray Poage have an 82-yard touchdown pass moment at the Pro Football Hall of Fame! WOW!

Then, after a Giants fumble, Wood found Aaron Thomas (both of them ex-Giants!) for an 18-yard TD pass and the all-stars had the lead 17-13!

At that point, I decided to swap in some of the other AFA all-stars and give THEM some HOF time. Edd Hargett took over at QB, and had a couple of first-down passes right away. But he wilted under pressure and was sacked repeatedly after that. Geoff's Giants put together a memorable 18-play drive, consuming over ten minutes of clock time, with Csonka plunging over from the one to re-take the lead. I just could not get a defensive stop! I subbed in Babe Parilli ("1"s on 11, 33 and 66!) hoping to regain momentum, with similar results as Hargett: a couple of early first downs, but then back-to-back sacks and a (short) punt. The Giants responded with another scoring drive--aided by three defensive penalties, two of which turned fourth downs into first downs--Kotar taking it in for a 27-17 lead. That left about four minutes to play. Ron Sayers had a great kickoff return to put me in Giants territory to start the drive.

I put Wood back into the game, and he got me down to the Giants 10-yard line--field goal range. With just over two minutes left and needing two scores, I had Wood kick the field goal to make it 27-20. The odds of successfully executing an onside kick without having a true kicking specialist were minimal, so I opted to kick deep and hope for a defensive stop. It didn't happen. On third and two, Csonka bulled ahead for the first down that sealed the game.

What can I say? Geoff Giordano is one cool dude!!

This game was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. It brought back so many memories, and to use the actual cards I had in my hands 50+ years ago was truly special. Geoff is a true gentleman and all-around good sport, and the game sort of summed up what this hobby is all about.

Next on the docket was a game of full-play Cold Snap with Keith Curtis. I chose one of my favorite CFL teams, the '60 Argos, featuring a couple of soon-to-be AFL stars, Tobin Rote and Cookie Gilchrist. I had never played a head-to-head game with them. Keith took the '60 Blue Bombers, who ran roughshod through the league that year with a 14-2 record. The Argos were no slouches, though, at 10-4 and we anticipated a great game. We got one. I kicked off, and the Bombers scored on their very FIRST offensive play, a 62-yard run by Leo Lewis--WOW! It was 10-10 at the end of the first quarter, with both clubs moving at will. Things slowed down in the second period, though, as the defenses started creating turnovers. Trailing 18-13 in the fourth quarter, Gilchrist powered in from the 1 yard-line to give Toronto the lead. Then another costly turnover for Winnipeg, Kenny Ploen threw his fourth interception, setting the Argos up in Bombers territory. Once again the drive ended with Gilchrist bulling in for the touchdown. That ended up the final score of the game 27-18.

A pair of "Keiths," Keith "A" and Keith "C," we need to find a Keith "B!"

Lewis ended the game as the leading rusher, 98 yards on just 6 carries! Gilchrist finished with 52 yards on 11 carries. Rote completed 14 of 31 passes for 304 yards and a touchdown. Ploen was 9 of 24 for 164 yards. Both passers threw four picks--a different era for sure!

Next, a return to Fury Football with the hist of the Digital to Dice Podcast, Dave Gardner. Dave is such a great guy, We played a head-to-head game, Gulf Coast Splash vs. the New York Nukes, then we played the two teams using the auto-pilot "spectator" mode.

I was so glad that Dave Gardner made the trip! As great as he is on the computer screen, he's even better in person!

After lunch, I played Breakaway Football, Arthur Franz' awesome football strategy game. Paul Salzgeber served as my mentor, we played with the game's base teams, Lightning vs. the Fire. Then, I recruited Paul, Harvey Couch, Cooper Gilbert, James Cast and Charles Helms for a Draft Duel "photo shoot." Basically, they played the game while I took pictures to be used on the website for the game's launch later this fall.

Cooper Gilbert makes a three-touchdown play in Draft Duel, eliciting the "high five" from Paul Salzgeber as Charles Helms (left) and James Cast (right) look in admiration/disbelief!

Too soon, it was time to wrap up. After many hugs, handshakes and high fives, I was on my way back to the airport. Another amazing event in the books!

A huge thanks to Geoff for coordinating the event, and for the 30 folks who made the trip to Canton to be part of it. Sounds like we're already "on" for an encore event in 2025, which I will definitely plan to be part of!