Today marks the beginning of the National Football League (NFL) Draft, an annual event where professional football teams pick new players from college teams. It lasts a few days over the course of several rounds, and it's structured so that the team that came in last the previous season gets first pick of the prospective players. (Teams can also trade their position in the draft with another team.)
On a previous trip to the Scholastic Archives, I noticed a small paperback book on the shelf: All-Pro Football Stars 1976. It stuck out to me because it was such a specific title that's now 40 years old. It also got me wondering what other old football books we had. So, in honor of the start of the 2016 NFL Draft, today's Throwback Thursday is a collection of some "touchdown titles" from the archives!
Some quick notes:
1963's Pro Quarterback is a fiction title about a boy who joins a pro team, coached by his father. You may recognize author Y.A Tittle as a former NFL quarterback who played for the Baltimore Colts, San Francisco 49ers, and the New York Giants! He co-wrote the book with Howard Liss, an author who wrote all kinds of sports books about or with a number of athletes.
Some recognizable names featured in the 1975 title Great Quarterbacks of Pro Football are Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, and Terry Bradshaw.
All-Pro Football Stars 1976 rates players on a 1-5 football scale in the following categories: Quarterbacking, Running Game, Receiving, Offensive Line, and Total Defense.
Are you ready for some football?
Special thanks to Scholastic librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey for her help with this series!
Gina Asprocolas
