Electric Football Convention Flashback – Philadelphia 1999 (with help from Mark and Bill Klingbeil)

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Unforgettable Buzz author Earl Shores at the 1999 Miggle Convention in Philadelphia.

Electric football history was made on this day in 1999 when the Miggle Electric Football Convention got underway in Philadelphia. It was a vibrant event from the start. The crowds were overwhelming even early on Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon my voice was almost completely gone from what seemed like non-stop electric football discussions. My family and my 3-year-old son got to hang out and help so it was very memorable event, even behind the tables.

Thanks to Mark and Bill Klingbeil for documenting in detail the 1999 Philly Convention.

Local television was there, regional newspapers all had features, and Mark and Bill Klingbeil, who had hung up their cleats by 1999, posted an epic account of the event online just a few weeks later. I printed out their pages way back when and still have a copy. Anytime I read through it I smile. It was an amazing event. The Super Bowl winner that year was New Jersey’s David Daniels.

Hopefully Mark and Bill don’t mind that we rely on them heavily for this post. They were truly the historians of that weekend. Thanks guys — it was an event worth documenting.

Earl

Comments

Electric Football Convention Flashback – Philadelphia 1999 (with help from Mark and Bill Klingbeil) — 4 Comments

  1. That game board in the front left of the top picture, (the one with the helmets..model # 613, I believe) was my first game board. A few years later I bought the very same board and four teams from a friend who wasn’t interested in Electric Football.
    I still have them both, along with about 15 others that I’ve collected over the years in my search to expand my team collection.

  2. The No. 613 is one of our favorites, even with the “H”-shaped goalposts. The one on the table is actually a Ward No. 619 – note the blue scoreboard. The Ward game had the Rams and 49ers. By changing the grandstand a little Tudor could give Sears and Ward “personalized” models. The frame is beautiful.

  3. Yeah, my original must have been the Sears; it came with the Browns in white jerseys and the Giants in Blue.

    On another note…one of these days I’m going to pick one of my 17, or so, boards and modify it by adding another motor. I figure by expanding the timer hole a bit along with some light welding I can accomplish this.
    Remember how the team going away from the motor got the greater push? This dual motor concept would eliminate that (assuming that both motors were set at same speed).