1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game
| 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham first televised football game | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | September 30, 1939 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | Network NBC | | |||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Bill Stern | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game was a
Game play
Fordham entered the game a pre-season pick for the national championship, but the first score was completed by Waynesburg when Bobby Brooks completed a 63-yard run for a touchdown on the third play of the game.[3] Waynesburg only scored in the first quarter but managed to keep Fordham within reach during the early part of the game.[4] Fordham scored in every quarter, leaving the final score at 34–7.[5]
Fordham's offense managed sixteen first downs and 337 yards, while Waynesburg managed only five first downs for a total of 157 yards. Fordham blocked a punt in both the first and second halves of the game and recorded an interception in the fourth quarter that the offense was able to turn into a touchdown.[1]
Sports broadcasting firsts
NBC broadcast the game on station W2XBS with one camera and Bill Stern was the sole announcer. Estimates are that the broadcast reached approximately 1,000 television sets.[6]
The game came just over a month after the Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the Cincinnati Reds in the first-ever televised professional baseball game,[7] and five months after the Princeton and Columbia baseball teams played the first televised American sporting event.[8]
Sports broadcasting continued less than one month later on October 22 with a telecast of a game between the now-defunct
See also
- College football on television
- 1939 college football season
- List of historically significant college football games
References
- ^ Youngstown Vindicator. October 1, 1939. p. D–6. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Vander Voort, Eric (September 29, 2015). "First televised football game featured Fordham, Waynesburg in 1939". NCAA.com.
- ^ a b "First TV Football Game". Waynesburg University. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ Beachler, Eddie (October 3, 1939). "Tech, Pitt, Dukes in Good Condition for Next Test". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ "Fordham Rams Drive Over Waynesburg, 34–7". The Tuscaloosa News. October 1, 1939. Retrieved February 12, 2011.
- ^ "First televised football game, Waynesberg vs Fordham, 1939". American Sportscasters Online. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ "First televised Major League baseball game". History.com. August 24, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- ^ Smith, Curt. "TV brought baseball to fans who had never seen a game". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- ^ Janssen, Mark (October 7, 2010). "Purple Pride vs. Big Red – 4–0 vs. 4–0". Kansas State Wildcats. Archived from the original on February 15, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.