Turkey and a Pigskin

When Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863, we’re certain the president knew exactly what the day would look like for generations of Americans to come. Family, appreciation, good food, and John Madden awarding his famous Turkey Leg MVP Award to the best player in the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day slate.

Thirteen years after the top hat-wearing presidente staked his claim that the final Thursday of November would be a day of thanks and gratitude, the first Thanksgiving football game was played. On a chilly fall day in Hoboken, New Jersey, around one thousand fans gathered to watch Yale take down Princeton by a score of 2-0. Regardless of how strong the buzz was around this new sport, those poor fans didn’t need a turkey induced coma to be put to sleep after watching that snooze fest they called a football game. Snooze fest or not, a gridiron rooted seed had been planted within American holiday culture that still shows its helmet, or head, every last Thursday in November.

George A. Richards hadn’t been born when the Bulldogs of Yale met the Princeton Tigers in that historic Ivy League Clash on Thanksgiving Day in 1876. But in the spring of 1934, the radio executive purchased the Portsmouth Spartans, a professional football team out of Ohio. Upon taking ownership, Richards immediately moved the team to Detroit and thus, the Lions were born. In a city that was dominated by Tigers baseball, the new owner found himself searching for ways to market his new team to his new fans.

Enter George Halas and his Chicago Bears. The Monsters of the Midway, as they’re known, were an established franchise in the growing NFL and were one of the most successful teams in the early years of the league. Richards saw an opportunity to help grab hold of the Detroit faithful and convinced Halas to schedule a game on Thanksgiving later that season in an effort to help bolster attendance. Anticipation grew not only in Detroit, but around the entire league as the game drew closer. By the time kickoff approached the Bears were 11-0, holding a perfect record and the top spot in the NFL’s Western Division. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the young Detroit Lions were 10-1, shutting out each of their first seven opponents and sitting just one spot back of Chicago in the standings. Along with the hefty division lead implications, Richard’s background also lended its hand in the game’s surging buzz.

Given Richard’s past in the radio business and his relationship with NBC, the owner managed to smooth talk his way into the network broadcasting his team’s game nationally. This would be the first time a football game was welcomed into every home in the United States, and it proved to have a massive effect on the way the sport was viewed by the public moving forward. What was once looked upon as a game for adolescents and college-aged boys was growing into a serious movement that would eventually go on to claim the top spot of the American sports hierarchy.

Back to the University of Detroit Stadium. In seven home games leading up to the highly anticipated holiday clash, the Lions were averaging an attendance of just over 12,000 fans per game. No small feat and nothing to laugh at by the time’s standards. But on Thanksgiving Day over 26,000 excited Michiganders packed the bleachers to watch the game, doubling their season average. So many showed that thousands had to be turned away at the gate. And although the exact number of listeners is unknown, the game was broadcast across 94 radio stations nation wide. Proof that good marketing and a connection in the radio industry can help grow your new business. We’ve been saying that for years.

Although the Lions took a 16-7 lead into halftime, the Bears pulled off a second half comeback lead by Hall of Famers Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski to win 19-16. It was a game that had immeasurable influence on not just Thanksgiving football but the entirety of the NFL. The Lions and the Bears weren’t the first teams to play on the holiday, but they had a major say in the tradition it has become. A tradition that has seen Detroit host a Thanksgiving Day game every year, aside from a brief hiatus during World War II. To this day, that game in 1934 holds the record for the most combined wins between two teams heading into a Thanksgiving match-up and it rightfully has gone down as an NFL classic. Perhaps most importantly, it was a hell of a lot more entertaining than that first game in Hoboken in 1876.

In honor of the late great John Madden, here are a few clips of the legendary coach and announcer’s best moments in the booth throughout his time calling games for the NFL on Thanksgiving.