Archdeacon: Dayton’s football history being preserved on film

Tom Archdeacon- Dayton Daily News:

If this were the summer of 1920, Lou Partlow – known as “The Battering Ram of West Carrollton” – would be spending some of his training sessions running full tilt through the wooded areas along the Great Miami River just outside of his town.

He would juke and spin and dodge, turning the rooted maples, oaks and elms into flat-footed defenders.

But then, on occasion, he’d lower a shoulder and slam into a sturdy trunk to prepare himself for the jolts he’d feel from the tacklers he would not elude in the NFL’s first-ever game between his Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles played at Triangle Park on October 3, 1920.

As it turned out, Partlow’s primitive preparations were perfect.

In the third quarter of a scoreless game, he broke a 40-yard run to the Panhandles’ 10-yard line. After a teammate’s carry then moved the ball three yards ahead, Partlow took a handoff and bolted seven yards for what is considered the NFL’s first touchdown.

With nearly 5,000 people crowded around the field that historic day, Dayton would go on to win, 14-0.

There have been times this summer when local filmmaker Allen Farst has felt a little like Partlow on those unforgiving training runs as he’s worked on the documentary he’s making – “Triangle Park” – about that first NFL game, the players on the Triangles team and the city of Dayton back then. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE