Moments in NFL History: Call 1-800-QB-RADIO

American football has evolved bit by bit each year since it started in the 1800s. Equipment, style of play, rules – all have changed to help make the game what it has become today: the most popular sport in the country.

One device, patented on this date (Sept. 15) in 1959, would change the technological side of the game, although it would take nearly 40 years to move from novelty to mainstream.

In 1956, two Ohio inventors – John Campbell and George Sarles – approached then-Cleveland Browns coach and future Hall of Famer PAUL BROWN with a new device that would help with the efficiency of his team's offense. That device? A radio transmitter that could be mounted inside a helmet so coaches could communicate with players.

The idea intrigued Brown, as it would replace the need for players to run onto the field and relay his play call prior to every snap. Secretly, Brown wanted to test the feasibility of this new system, so he started using it in practices with his quarterback, George Ratterman. After some careful – and albeit nearly illegal tests (Campbell and Sarles had a test signal get intercepted by the police) – Brown wanted to put the method to a real test.

In an exhibition game against the Detroit Lions, Brown employed the new communication device. It worked as intended, but the Lions’ staff noticed no signaling from the opposing sidelines and the presence of a mysterious transmitter behind a light pole.

News of the Browns using this device spread through the league, and teams started to come up with ways to counter the new technology. The most successful at combating the Browns were the New York Giants. Instead of trying to interfere with the signal, the Giants let it go. The catch? They listened in.

VINCE LOMBARDI employed two backup positional players on the team to listen to the play call and communicated in to defensive coach TOM LANDRY, who relayed the play to ANDY ROBUSTELLI on the field. The Giants won the game 21-9.

It only took a few more days for then-Commissioner BERT BELL to outlaw the use of the device.

“Most teams of the late 1940s and into the 1950s allowed quarterbacks to run the offense. This was always a source of tension between Brown and his Hall of Fame quarterback OTTO GRAHAM. Brown was the rare coach during his era who called the plays on offense,” said Jon Kendle, vice president of museum and archives at the Hall of Fame.

“Before he tested the helmet receiver, Brown had pioneered a way to deliver plays to the huddle with the famed ‘messenger guard’ system in which alternating lineman would run in the play from the sidelines. The radio streamlined the process and allowed direct communication to his quarterback,” Kendle continued. “Brown always was searching for ways to move the game forward.”

Brown’s technology eventually became a fixture in the National Football League.

Radio transmission between coach and player was legalized in 1994. One player per team who is on the field is allowed to have the communication device mounted in his helmet, designated by a green sticker on the back of that player’s helmet.