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Football Games On Early TV On Thanksgiving

C

Cincinnati Kid

What football games do you remember being telecast in the early days of TV in your area?

I can recall the Lions-Packers NFL game being on here in the mid-1950's although, of course, that was a network telecast that was seen elsewhere as well.

I didn't see it, but did research that the University of Cincinnati -vs- Miami of Ohio football game played on Thanksgiving, 1949 was carried on all three Cincinnati TV outlets (then Channels, 4, 7 and 11) that afternoon. I'm not sure how many television sets were in use here then. The three stations had all signed on for the first time earlier that year

What do you remember from your area from Thanksgivings of the early TV years?
 
The first television broadcast in Seattle over KRSC-TV (which would become KING eight months later) was a live high school football matchup on Thanksgiving Day, 1948. It had rained prior to game time and then the sun came out, causing a horrible glare off the wet field, so the visuals were pretty poor.
 
Here in Louisville, WAVE-TV (primary NBC, secondary DuMont) signed on Channel 5 on November 24, 1948 with an introductory filmed program. The next day, WAVE presented the latest installment of what is now the oldest uninterrupted (100+ years) high school football rivalry in the US, Louisville Male High versus Louisville duPont Manual High.

I believe kinescopes still exist of some of this 1948 game, which used to be on Thanksgiving Day yearly until the high school football system in Kentucky was realigned and expanded. Despite the changes, Male-Manual is still an annual event.

I got a look at the photos from that game, and I was awed by the size and weight of the remote gear they had in 1948, compared to what we use today...heck, 10 years ago the stuff was heavier, bulkier and consumed more power than today (Techs: I'm an EVS and videotape operator).

By the way, WAVE (TV) is still going strong as an NBC affiliate on DT Channel 47...it moved from Channel 5 to Channel 3 in the 1953 re-alignment and stayed on Channel 3 until the digital transition.
 
Not exactly the early days of TV (roughly pre-1952 or '53), but
a typical Thanksgiving Day lineup from my childhood. Carolina-
Tennessee edition of TV Guide, November 22, 1962:

Packers-Lions 12 N CBS
Texas A&M-Texas approx. 2:45 PM CBS
(New York) Titans-Broncos 3 PM ABC

When I was a kid, Packers-Lions and A&M-Texas were sure to
be telecast on Thanksgiving Day; I think it was in '66 that the
Cowboys began playing their annual Turkey Day game (Cleveland,
IIRC, was their first opponent, and the game aired on CBS at
6 PM ET).

For my part, no game, college or pro, will ever touch the college
game played Thanksgving Day, November 25, 1971: Oklahoma-Nebraska.

I do have a question: when did Thanksgiving Day become almost all-NFL
and the day after become almost all-NCAA?
 
Here in Boston, Thanksgiving Day 1948 (November 25th, 1948) was the first after the arrival of commercial television in the "Hub".

No pro football games were televised in Boston that day. I think the only NFL game that day was in Detroit, which may have been televised in the Midwest. Since there were not yet TV network lines between the Midwest and East Coast (two months later, the Midwest and East were linked, in time for Inauguration Day), that game could not have been televised on the East Coast.

According to that day's Boston Globe, there were two football games on TV: A high-school game between Lynn Classical and Lynn English at 10 A.M. on WNAC-7; and a college football game between Penn and Cornell at Philadelphia on WBZ-4 at 1:15 P.M. (likely via NBC)

The next year (1949), Bostonians (again, according to Boston Globe listings) finally got a televised NFL game on Thanksgiving when the Detroit Lions' game (oddly enough, they hosted the Chicago Bears and not the Green Bay Packers that year) aired on WNAC, with a 11:05 A.M. EST kick-off (and 10:55 A.M. EST broadcast time; this game was likely from DuMont).

WBZ (again through NBC) had another college game that day, again featuring Cornell, this time hosting Penn State at 1:15 P.M. Unless there was a microwave link-up (maybe temporary?) to either Ithaca or State College, I suspect the game was also played in Philadelphia.
 
bpatrick said:
For my part, no game, college or pro, will ever touch the college
game played Thanksgving Day, November 25, 1971: Oklahoma-Nebraska.

I do have a question: when did Thanksgiving Day become almost all-NFL
and the day after become almost all-NCAA?
Click to expand...
Agreed on the Oklahoma-Nebraska game.  That was just draining - can you believe ABC showed another game later that day?

I don't have a definitive answer to the question of when the changes you mentioned happened.  I THINK that 1976 was the last time ABC showed a Thanksgiving game on an annual basis; then there were none nationally until ESPN brought back the A&M-Texas game in the 80s.  The A&M-Texas game was on Thanksgiving through 1973 and in 1976, but not again until 1981.  OU-NU's last Thanksgiving game was in 1972. 

As for Fridays, I think this had to do at least in part with the NCAA television contact with ABC; IIRC, teams were limited to a certain number of appearances per season, but games played on days other than Saturday were differently toward that total.  OU-NU shifted their game from Thanksgiving to Friday in 1973 at least through 1977 (even when OU was on probation and the game wasn't televised).  A&M and Texas also played at least a couple of times on Friday in the 70s.

A side note- the number of pro games on Thanksgiving has also declined somewhat from its peak; after CBS added the Dallas game to the traditional Detroit game, making an NFL doubleheader, NBC followed suit with an AFL doubleheader in that league's final seasons, making a total of four pro games, in addition to the college games.

WBZ (again through NBC) had another college game that day, again featuring Cornell, this time hosting Penn State at 1:15 P.M. Unless there was a microwave link-up (maybe temporary?) to either Ithaca or State College, I suspect the game was also played in Philadelphia.
Click to expand...
Joseph, I checked this out on the College Football Data Warehouse; according to them, it was actually Penn which Cornell played in 1949, and you're correct that it was played in Philadelphia.
 
The primetime game on November 25, 1971 was just as
draining for me: Georgia-Georgia Tech, because I had
already decided I wanted to attend UGA. With time running out,
Georgia quarterback Andy Johnson moved the ball some
90 yards to pull off the win over Tech.

The SEC also had another reason to celebrate that night:
Auburn QB Pat Sullivan won the Heisman, although I will maintain
until I'm in my grave that Ed Marinaro would have won it if he had
gone to a school other than Cornell, not one of your big college football
powerhouses.
 
bpatrick said:
The primetime game on November 25, 1971 was just as
draining for me: Georgia-Georgia Tech, because I had
already decided I wanted to attend UGA. With time running out,
Georgia quarterback Andy Johnson moved the ball some
90 yards to pull off the win over Tech.

The SEC also had another reason to celebrate that night:
Auburn QB Pat Sullivan won the Heisman, although I will maintain
until I'm in my grave that Ed Marinaro would have won it if he had
gone to a school other than Cornell, not one of your big college football
powerhouses.
Click to expand...
I remember that game being on, but I'll be darned if I can remember anything about it. Must have been the tryptophan...

But I do remember that Heisman presentation, and I agree with you that Marinaro should have gotten it. It was only the year before that Dartmouth won the Lambert Trophy as the best football team in the East - I kind of miss those days.
 
bpatrick said:
Packers-Lions 12 N CBS
Texas A&M-Texas approx. 2:45 PM CBS
(New York) Titans-Broncos 3 PM ABC
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I do remember a Thanksgiving Day game from Denver
going WAAAAAY back in my childhood.

In the film Rudy his family is shown gathered around the television watching Notre
Dame play on Thanksgiving Day. Which made me wonder.....has Notre Dame ever
played on Thanksgiving? I don't seem to remember that.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
bpatrick said:
Packers-Lions 12 N CBS
Texas A&M-Texas approx. 2:45 PM CBS
(New York) Titans-Broncos 3 PM ABC
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I do remember a Thanksgiving Day game from Denver
going WAAAAAY back in my childhood.

In the film Rudy his family is shown gathered around the television watching Notre
Dame play on Thanksgiving Day. Which made me wonder.....has Notre Dame ever
played on Thanksgiving? I don't seem to remember that.
Click to expand...
The one time I can remember Notre Dame playing on Thanksgiving was in 1973, when they played Air Force at South Bend. (Won, 48-15.) As I recall, ND moved this game to Thanksgiving at the request of ABC. Not positive, but I think that's the one and only time for them.
 
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