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NFL Champs Vs. College All-Stars 1934-1976

The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason football tilt played annually (except 1974) from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. (There was one exception: The 1935 game involved the 1934 runner-up Chicago Bears instead of the champion New York Giants.)

The game originally was a benefit for Chicago-area charities. Except for the 1943 and 1944 games which were held at Northwestern University, the game was always played at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The first game, played before a crowd of 79,432 on August 31, 1934, was a scoreless tie between the all-stars and the Chicago Bears. The following year, a game that included future president Gerald Ford, the Bears won, 5-0. The first all-star win was in 1937 for a squad that featured Sammy Baugh.

In the 1940s the games were competitive affairs that attracted large crowds to Soldier Field. But as the talent level of pro football improved, the all-stars had diminishing success. The last all-star win came in 1963, when a team coached by legendary quarterback Otto Graham beat the Green Bay Packers 20-17.

By the 1970s, crowds for the event were dwindling. In addition, NFL coaches were reluctant to part with their new draftees (who would miss part of training camp) for a meaningless exhibition in which the players might be injured.

A players’ strike forced the cancellation of the 1974 game. The last game took place in a torrential downpour on July 23, 1976. Despite featuring stars such as Chuck Muncie, Mike Pruitt, Lee Roy Selmon and Jackie Slater, the collegians were hopelessly outclassed by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh was leading 24-0 late in the third quarter when play was suspended due to the awful weather conditions. The game was not restarted. Chicago Tribune Charities Inc., the sponsor of the game, elected not to bring it back for 1977. A program from the 1941 game is shown here.

Overall, the NFL teams won 31 of the 42 games. The all-stars won nine. Two games ended in ties.

Karsten Braasch vs Williams Sisters

One ‘battle of the sexes’ sports event that has curiously not gotten much attention was the impromptu beatdown that an obscure male German professional tennis player named Karsten Braasch handed to both Serena and Venus Williams during the 1998 Australian Open. At that event, the Williams sisters confidently walked into the Australian ATP office and boldly announced that either one of them could beat a top-200 male player. The 30-year-old Braasch, who had been ranked 38th in the world at his peak in 1994 but had dropped to 203rd by 1998, accepted the sisters’ crazy challenge. On January 26, 1998, with no advance publicity, the three of them went to a distant practice court to play a couple of sets. There were no officials and no TV cameras present–and only a smattering of spectators who happened to wander near the court by chance. Serena, then 16, was blasted 6-1 by Braasch. Venus, a year older than her sister, fared only slightly better, losing 6-2. Braasch gleefully rubbed in his dominance by smoking cigarettes and drinking beers during the changeovers. Serena, who would win the women’s title at the U.S. Open later that year, was humbled by the shellacking. “It was extremely hard,” she told reporters who descended upon the challenge match. “I didn’t know it would be that hard. I hit shots that would have been winners on the WTA Tour, and he got to them easily.” When Braasch was asked if either of the Williams sisters could beat a top male player, he opined, “Against anyone in the top 500, no chance–because I was playing like [number] 600 today.”

Lorraine Warren Interview Part 1

Both videos were recorded on October 29, 2009 at their home in Monroe – Stepney home. I don’t know why she had a WV pillow behind her.

Since 1952 the Warrens have been the directors of the New England Society for Psychic Research and they have investigated over 4,000 hauntings. Here is a detailed early history of how they met. Here is Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJeUcyS82g

Lorrain Interview Part 2

Ed and Lorraine Warren ghost hunters always called Connecticut home. I had the privileged of interviewing Lorraine on October 29, 2009 and posted it right away. I forgot about Part 2 but many have asked for it so here it is. Part 1 can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow2RgO30lPk

When we left off at the early years interview Ed was in the north Atlantic when the US Navy ship he was onboard collided with another ship and Ed’s strong ability to swim helped save a shipmate who did not know how to swim. Lorraine’s had appendix ruptured and doctors were afraid to operate. In Part 2 we pick up with Ed and Lorraine’s marriage and how they became know as “Artists on the Hill” in Stepney Village in Monroe, Connecticut way before their ghost-busting days.