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Fire Raged, They Played On, and the Photo Still Beguiles
"Gain of two on the play, and we’ll see if they call for the punt unit here as the family next door is overcome by smoke inhalation.”
Link to tweet
What a photo! Would love the backstory on it.
Link to tweet
Fire Raged, They Played On, and the Photo Still Beguiles
In Robert Van Fleet's well-known photograph, spectators in Massachusetts divided their attention as the Mount Hermon football team hosted Deerfield Academy while a fire burned in a Mount Hermon science building on Nov. 20, 1965.Credit...Robert S. Van Fleet/Associated Press
By Sarah Lyall
May 5, 2015
GILL, Mass. — The photograph, nearly 50 years old, is a social media favorite, a perennial entry on top-10 lists of strange-but-true sports images. And it is certainly strange. Fans watch a football game from the stands as a building burns behind them, failing to look even mildly alarmed at the flames shooting out and the black smoke billowing into the sky.
Even at the time, when the photograph was reprinted around the world, people thought it was too weird to be real. “My colleagues maintain it is a real picture, but I believe it is of the April fool type,” wrote Phil F. Brogan, an editor at The Bulletin newspaper in Bend, Ore. (“I can assure you that the picture was not faked,” replied Arthur H. Kiendl Jr., the headmaster of Mount Hermon, the Massachusetts prep school where the game took place.)
In fact, the photograph, of the Mount Hermon game against Deerfield Academy on Nov. 20, 1965, was an instant classic. Though the photographer, Robert Van Fleet, never received much in the way of payment for it, it was named The Associated Press sports photograph of the year. It was featured on the back page of Life magazine. It was reproduced in dozens of newspapers and magazines across the United States, including The New York Times, often accompanied by supposedly amusing captions about Rome burning, the teams’ “red-hot rivalry” and the like.
Abroad, the photograph appeared in England, France, West Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Colombia, Iran, Venezuela, Turkey and Sweden, among other places. Foreign caption writers knew it illustrated something, although they weren’t altogether sure what. ... Was it representative of America’s unhealthily slavish devotion to football? Of the players’ admirable single-mindedness amid chaos? Of the spectators’ idiotically misplaced priorities? Of the quaint absence of fire safety protocols in America? ... And, especially: What on earth was going on, that a football game would continue uninterrupted while a major fire raged so near?
{snip}
In Robert Van Fleet's well-known photograph, spectators in Massachusetts divided their attention as the Mount Hermon football team hosted Deerfield Academy while a fire burned in a Mount Hermon science building on Nov. 20, 1965.Credit...Robert S. Van Fleet/Associated Press
By Sarah Lyall
May 5, 2015
GILL, Mass. — The photograph, nearly 50 years old, is a social media favorite, a perennial entry on top-10 lists of strange-but-true sports images. And it is certainly strange. Fans watch a football game from the stands as a building burns behind them, failing to look even mildly alarmed at the flames shooting out and the black smoke billowing into the sky.
Even at the time, when the photograph was reprinted around the world, people thought it was too weird to be real. “My colleagues maintain it is a real picture, but I believe it is of the April fool type,” wrote Phil F. Brogan, an editor at The Bulletin newspaper in Bend, Ore. (“I can assure you that the picture was not faked,” replied Arthur H. Kiendl Jr., the headmaster of Mount Hermon, the Massachusetts prep school where the game took place.)
In fact, the photograph, of the Mount Hermon game against Deerfield Academy on Nov. 20, 1965, was an instant classic. Though the photographer, Robert Van Fleet, never received much in the way of payment for it, it was named The Associated Press sports photograph of the year. It was featured on the back page of Life magazine. It was reproduced in dozens of newspapers and magazines across the United States, including The New York Times, often accompanied by supposedly amusing captions about Rome burning, the teams’ “red-hot rivalry” and the like.
Abroad, the photograph appeared in England, France, West Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Colombia, Iran, Venezuela, Turkey and Sweden, among other places. Foreign caption writers knew it illustrated something, although they weren’t altogether sure what. ... Was it representative of America’s unhealthily slavish devotion to football? Of the players’ admirable single-mindedness amid chaos? Of the spectators’ idiotically misplaced priorities? Of the quaint absence of fire safety protocols in America? ... And, especially: What on earth was going on, that a football game would continue uninterrupted while a major fire raged so near?
{snip}
This is the first time I've ever seen the photograph.
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Reminded me of this quote: (even though he was referring to "soccer" ).
William Shankly OBE (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the UEFA Cup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shankly
