At Gridiron Football Company we craft heirloom quality football art collectibles & memorabilia. Each football is crafted from genuine leather in the U.S.A. before our talented team of artists design and hand-paint them one-by-one. Turning each football into a work of art.
The first American collegiate football game was played in 1869. The ball, named the “pigskin,” was not made of a pig’s skin, but rather a pig’s bladder, making each one unpredictable in shape, size, and weight. It was round-ish, and didn’t stay inflated for long. In the original form of the football, the ball was mostly kicked, hence, the name of the game.
The game originated from a version of rugby. In 1906, the rules were changed to allow legal forward passes. With this advancement, footballs began to be thrown and caught more and this made the ball’s round shape a hindrance to game play. Most balls were still being made of leather from cows. It was decided that the ball needed to be deflated a little, by loosening the laces, so it was flatter and easier to catch.
In 1920, Spalding started to manufacture footballs in a less-spherical shape, but one that resembled a torpedo: with narrower ends and attention to the aerodynamics of the ball. Players in the American Professional Football Association (APFA) had an easier time making passes, and sported the ball as the official football of the league. Most balls were being made of rubber or leather at this point thanks to Charles Goodyear’s new invention.
The “perfect spiral” was perfected with the creation of the modern version of the football in 1935. The NFL shortened the length of the official ball to eleven inches. The shape is known as the “prolate spheroid.” Think of it as a sphere that has pointy ends instead of squashed. Some of these footballs are made of rubber, but most are still composed of cowhide.