April 26, 1930: The Final's Clubs Come Out Together

The Captains: Tom Parker of Arsenal (left)

and Tom Wilson of Huddersfield Town

April 26, 1930: The FA Cup Final is held at the old Wembley Stadium in London. North London team Arsenal, managed by Herbert Chapman, are looking for their 1st Cup win since their foundation in 1886, having previously made the Final in 1927, losing to Cardiff City.

Their opponents are Yorkshire team Huddersfield Town, formerly managed by Chapman. He had led them to win the Cup in 1922, and the Football League in 1924 and 1925, setting them up to win it again in 1926, under his successor, Cecil Potter. They were now managed by Clem Stephenson, who had played for Huddersfield under Chapman; and, before that, had played for Birmingham team Aston Villa, winning the Cup in 1913 and 1920.

As a tribute to Chapman, For this reason, the 2 teams -- Arsenal in scarlet shirts with white collars, but not yet with the famous white sleeves, Huddersfield in blue and white stripes -- come out together, the 1st time it was ever done. It started a tradition, and now, all over the world, for games large and small, the teams come out together in a show of sportsmanship.

Shirt from the 1930 FA Cup Final,

worn by Arsenal right half Alf Baker

Shirt worn by Huddersfield left back

Marshall Bonwell "Bon" Spence.

Note the White Rose of Yorkshire.

In the middle of the game, the Graf Zeppelin flew over the stadium. This was during Germany's Weimar Republic, not yet the Nazi era.

Note also that the roof at Wembley Stadium

does not yet extend around the ends. That was done in 1963.

Arsenal won, 2-0. Alex James scored in the 16th minute, and Jack Lambert (no relation to the later Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker of the same name) put the game away in the 88th. It was the 1st major trophy for the Gunners, who would go on to dominate the 1930s in English soccer the way Huddersfield had dominated the 1920s.

Before the game, both teams met with Britain's King George V. After the game, Arsenal Captain Tom Parker (no relation to the man of the same name who would later be Elvis Presley's manager) led the team up the 39 steps to the Royal Box, and accepted the Cup from the King.

King George V, the Cup, and Captain Tom Parker at center.

Note Prince Albert, Duke of York, the future King George VI, at left.

Note also the the future King Edward VIII is not in the royal box.

Foreshadowing, perhaps?

As of their 2020 win, Arsenal have won the FA Cup more than any other team: 14 times. Huddersfield Town are still looking for their 1st Cup win since 1922.

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April 26, 1930 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-3 at Yankee Stadium. George Pipgras went the distance for the win. Lou Gehrig hit a home run. Babe Ruth went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 13-2 and 7-5 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Over the 2 games, Travis Jackson went 5-for-10 with a home run in each game and 4 RBIs, Bill Terry went 4-for-9 with a home run in each game, a walk, and 3 RBIs, Mel Ott went 4-for-7 with 2 walks and 5 RBIs, and the Phils' Chuck Klein went 2-for-9 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while Wilbert Robinson was their manager from 1914 to 1931) lost to the Boston Braves, 2-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The A's bullpen blew it for Lefty Grove. Al Simmons went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Mickey Cochrane went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Jimmie Foxx went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-7 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Lloyd Waner did not play, but Paul Waner went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, and Frankie Frisch went 2-for-5.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-4 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Benny Frey pitched a 7-hit shutout. Rogers Hornsby appeared as a pinch-hitter for the Cubs, but did not reach base.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 12-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Alvin Crowder, known as "General" after World War I figure General Enoch Crowder, pitched a 6-hit shutout to beat future Hall-of-Famer Ted Lyons.

January 29, 1974: The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Greatest NFL Draft

January 29, 1974: The NFL Draft is usually now held in April, but no team has ever had a Draft as good as the Pittsburgh Steelers did on this day. It allowed the Steelers, who had made the Playoffs the 2 previous seasons after years of being a doormat franchise, to go to the Super Bowl 4 times, winning them all, over the next 6 seasons.  

And, as Michael Wilbon correctly said on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, they did it with scouting. Not with an NFL Scouting Combine. Not with analytics. Not with a Wonderlic Test. They did it the old-fashioned way, and in so doing, they may have built the greatest team in NFL history.

Not too old-fashioned: In 1969, the team's owner and founder, Art Rooney, was approached by his sons, Dan and Art Jr. They told him that, as much as he loved football, he didn't know the game as well as he thought, and the proof of this was that, in 37 seasons, the Steelers had never made the Playoffs. They suggested that he let them make the personnel decisions. He figured he had little to lose, and so he did. And they hired Chuck Noll as head coach, and built a great scouting system around themselves.

They had the 1st pick in the 1969 Draft: North Texas State defensive tackle Joe Greene. They had the 1st pick in the 1970 Draft: Louisiana Tech quarterback Terry Bradshaw. In the 3rd round in 1969, they chose Oklahoma State offensive tackle Jon Kolb. In the 3rd round in 1970, they chose Southern University cornerback Mel Blount.

In 1971: In the 2nd round, they chose Penn State linebacker Jack Ham; in the 4th round, East Texas State defensive end Dwight White; in the 5th round, Kansas tight end Larry Brown, whom they moved to offensive tackle. In 1972: In the 1st round, they chose Penn State running back Franco Harris; and in the 5th round, they chose University of Rhode Island defensive end Steve Furness. The 1973 Draft would be relatively unimpressive for them. But they were just getting warmed up for 1974.

Ironically, it would be the Dallas Cowboys who had the top pick in that Draft, having acquired it in a trade with the Houston Oilers. They chose defensive end Ed Jones of Tennessee State, whose 6-foot-9 height earned him the nickname "Too Tall." He became a star, but not a Hall-of-Famer. In fact, none of the 1st 20 picks in this Draft made the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The 21st pick was the Steelers' pick: USC wide receiver Lynn Swann. In the 2nd round, they chose Kent State linebacker Jack Lambert. They had traded their 3rd round pick. In the 4th round, they chose Alabama A&M receiver John Stallworth. In the 5th round, they chose Wisconsin center Mike Webster.

In the 1st 5 rounds, they had 4 picks, and all of them made the Hall of Fame. After the Draft, they signed South Carolina State safety Donnie Shell. He made the Hall, too. The only non-Steeler in this Draft to make the Hall of Fame was Dave Casper of the Oakland Raiders. (UPDATE: That changed in 2024, when the 14th pick was elected: Ohio State linebacker Randy Gradishar, by the Denver Broncos.)

Choosing Swann was easy, as he had helped USC win the 1972 National Championship. Giving Bradshaw another good receiver was a good idea, since they already had good running backs in Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. But hardly anybody had looked at Stallworth.

They were not afraid to look at players from historically black colleges, including Greene, Blount, White, Stallworth and Shell. (As had Jones, chosen by the Cowboys' scouting genius, Gil Brandt.) Nor were they afraid to look for big fish in small ponds. Louisiana Tech was no power when Bradshaw was there. Furness was from URI, in the Yankee Conference.

And Lambert was from a Mid-American Conference school, and seemed undersized to be an NFL linebacker. But he was fast. And he was mean. Greene had become the NFL's top defensive tackle, and he was called "Mean Joe Greene," because it rhymed with his name. But, off the field, he was a nice guy. Greene said Lambert was much meaner than he was: "He's so mean, he don't even like himself."

The 1970s Steelers had 10 players make the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Greene, Bradshaw, Blount, Ham, Harris, Swann, Lambert, Stallworth, Webster and Shell. Noll, would also be elected, as would Art Rooney Sr. and Dan Rooney.

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January 29, 1974 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 104-83 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Buffalo Braves, 128-121 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 118-111 at the Cleveland Arena. Pete Maravich scored 33 points in defeat for the Hawks.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 115-107 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 126-106 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

There were no games scheduled in the NHL, and none in the American Basketball Association. In the World Hockey Association, the Jersey Knights beat the Toronto Toros, 6-1 at the Cherry Hill Arena in the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. And the Quebec Nordiques beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 5-0 at the Colisée de Québec.