More On PP&K

ESPN/Uni-Watch’s Paul Lucas asked readers for PP&K memories…even after that last chunk I wrote.  Here’s the rest of what I wrote:

As I’d said, my experiences came from the late 60’s / early 70’s.  As a boy I was very much into uniforms, but at the time there were few jerseys to be had for fans.  PP&K competitors wore ‘regular’ clothes at the local first-round competitions. The jerseys were 3 / 4 to long-sleeve, complete with team stripes usually sewn in separately.  Seems like most kids wore the same number, usually a popular player.  No TV numbers, but shoulder pads were worn.  As I’d said, I loved the close-to-authentic stockings.  If the team wore stripes, the kids wore them as well.

Back then there were two types of replica helmets on the market.  One was the softer plastic helmet with the “Steve Owens at Oklahoma” mask that came in the box with the kid’s uniform set.  But there was also a harder plastic, closer to authentic helmet with a more realistic QB/RB double bar mask.  The padding was still foam, as opposed to the suspension models worn in competition.  My thinking is that the PP&K participants wore the upgraded replica helmets, particularly the larger, older age groups.

In Atlanta the boys always wore Falcon unis.  Seems like the region included north Florida, and those guys also wore Falcon gear…I doubt they had a choice.  Had a kid shown up in another uni, they might’ve been boo-ed, even in the gentile South.  I’m sure any poor passes would’ve been jeered in Philly!

Thanks to my dad’s season tickets, I attended many Falcon games during those years.  We got there early, but most of the “area” PP&K kicking and punting competitions were held on the field before fans entered the stadium.  During halftime the participants were limited to throwing one pass.

The official NFL program those days was called PRO.  It usually ran an ad for the kids replica uniform sets, with every team’s uni pictured in the ad.  I studied those programs ever week.  Little changed from week to week, but sometimes there were action photos from previous games.  Though I never saw PP&K photos in the Falcons editions, other readers may have seen PP&K photos in theirs.

Besides the players I’d mentioned earlier, I later remembered that Don Meredith and Roger Staubach were also profiled in the booklet.  Perhaps other Bengal QBs, maybe NY Giant Fran Tarkenton (interesting that Fox dug him up for the Sugar Bowl!).  Sometimes the instructional photos in the booklet were staged, as opposed to action shots.  This made the form pictured incorrect…like Toni Fritsch in the booklet linked below.

One thing that amazed me:  When KC punter Jerrel Wilson was profiled in the booklet, he was photographed wearing his special red adidas punting shoes, with laces on the side of his foot.  They appeared to be made especially for football punting, not just borrowed from soccer.  They matched the rest of the Chiefs red adidas worn in that era, with two white stripes and one middle yellow stripe.

This is all I found on-line.  A 1976 booklet, an old newspaper ad, and a discussion on a PP&K girl boo-ed for wearing a Pats jersey: 

http://mclellansautomotive.com/photos/F7205.jpg

http://www.mclellansautomotive.com/sales-lit/bytype/memorabilia/bymake/print-bymakes.htm

http://newspapers.rawson.lib.mi.us/chronicle/CCC%201968%20(E)/Issues/09-26-1968_2.pdf 

http://kentucky.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1383&tid=109750065&mid=109750065&sid=888&style=2