| "What It Was, Was Football" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Andy Griffith | |
| A-side | "What It Was, Was Football" |
| B-side | "Romeo and Juliet" |
| Released | November 14, 1953 |
| Recorded | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Length | 5:40 |
| Label | Colonial, Capitol Records |
"What It Was, Was Football" is a monologue by actor-comedian Andy Griffith. The monologue is a description of a college football game, as seen by a naive country preacher who attends the game by accident and is entirely puzzled by it.
According to radio host Dr. Demento, "What It Was, Was Football" was originally an old vaudeville routine that Griffith, who claimed to have improvised the routine shortly before its first performance, "may have heard ... and subconsciously drawn inspiration from". [1]
At Griffith's request, Milton Alderfer recorded and produced the original master tape in Greensboro, North Carolina. [2] The master was then sent to the Colonial Records label in Chapel Hill, who mass-produced it. Soon after Colonial had sold nearly 50,000 copies of the record, Capitol Records took over distribution and ultimately sold nearly 800,000 copies. It also shot into the Top 10 in the Billboard record charts, peaking at #9 in February 1954.
"What It Was, Was Football" (which remains one of the biggest-selling comedy records of all time) was instrumental in launching Griffith's career in television, stage, and film. [3] On the original single, the monologue is credited to "Deacon Andy Griffith." [1]
Griffith made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, in large part due to the popularity of the record. [4]
"What It Was, Was Football" was printed in Mad magazine in 1958, with illustrations by artist George Woodbridge. Most of the text of the recording is printed verbatim with faithful renderings of Griffith's accent as heard on the recording; however, Griffith's original climactic description of "the awfullest fight that I have ever seen...in my life!" is moved to an earlier position in the printed version. Also, while the original recording makes no direct reference to a specific university as a setting for the game witnessed, the illustrations in the Mad version refer to both the Ivy League and University of Notre Dame. Due to licensing issues, this adaptation had to be omitted from the Totally MAD CD-ROM collection of the magazine's run. [5]
In 1987, Griffith made an appearance on The Tonight Show . During the interview, guest host Bill Cosby told Griffith that he had purchased Griffith's recording of "What It Was, Was Football". Cosby then told Griffith that he had performed it at school and received an A grade, much to Griffith's surprise and delight.[ citation needed ]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
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Andy Samuel Griffith was an American actor, comedian, television producer, singer, and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characters with a folksy-friendly personality, as well as his gruff but friendly voice, Griffith was a Tony Award nominee for two roles. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's film A Face in the Crowd (1957) and No Time for Sergeants (1958) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead roles of Andy Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968) and Ben Matlock in the legal drama Matlock (1986–1995).
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Colonial Records was a Chapel Hill, North Carolina–based record label that provided the springboard for artists Andy Griffith, George Hamilton IV, John D. Loudermilk, and Billy "Crash" Craddock.
Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete across an array of professional and amateur levels of competition, along with athletes who compete at the World and Olympic levels in their respective sport. Major league professional teams based in North Carolina include teams that compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The state is also home to NASCAR Cup Series races. At the collegiate and university level, there are several North Carolina schools in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina also has many minor league baseball teams. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams based throughout the state.
Herbert Lawrence Fedora is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and general manager for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously served as head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2008 to 2011, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2012 to 2018, and the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor University in 2020.
David Paul Clawson is an American retired college football coach and former player. He most recently served as the head football coach at Wake Forest University, where he was named the 2021 ACC Coach of the Year. Clawson previously served as the head football coach at Fordham University from 1999 to 2003, at the University of Richmond from 2004 to 2007, and at Bowling Green State University from 2009 to 2013. At Wake Forest, his annual salary was $3.6 million.
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The 1918 North Carolina SATC football team informally represented the University of North Carolina in the 1918 college football season. The University of North Carolina (UNC) does not officially recognize these games in their record books because they were organized under the auspices of the Student Army Training Corps rather than the school itself. Because of this, no varsity letters were given for the season.