It was the game where you controlled the action, sort of.
In 1948, Norman Sas of Alpine, N.J., came up with a game that most every male child (and, some girls) played -- electric football.
An employee at the Sas family company, Tudor Metal Products, had tinkered with vibrating electric games in the 1940s, but Sas' brainstorm of applying it to football led to the development of a toy that remained popular into the 1980s.
It was a simple but ingenious concept, requiring almost no changes from its invention through the decades of sales that followed. Players with small plastic "brushes" on their bases were lined up on a metal playing field. When everything was set up, the flick of a switch started the field vibrating, making the players move forward, at least when the game was new.
Norman Sas, far right, in 1971 with electric football fans, including Pete Rozelle, second from left.
The play ended when a player on the defense came in contact with the ball carrier, the "ball " being a football-shaped piece of felt that fit in his plastic arm. The game itself often ended when player figures with older, worn-out bases began moving backward or in endless circles.
Over the years, the game evolved, with quarterbacks and their spring-loaded arms able to throw the ball (pass complete if it hit an eligible receiver) and spring-loaded kickers able to attempt field goals. Attachments that replicated scoreboards, clocks and even fans were included in later versions.
By 1967, Sas had signed a deal with the National Football League to add official team colors and logos. More than 40 million versions of the game were sold over the years with perhaps just as many little felt 'footballs' lost and eventually replaced with wadded-up paper.
Sas died in 2012, and was posthumously inducted into the Miniature Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Greg Hatala may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.