Our opening spread of Chapter 7, which covers 1954 and Gotham Pressed Steel’s entry into Electric Football. Gotham was Tudor’s first Electric Football competitor.

With Toy Fair 2014 already in the rear view mirror, we found ourselves thumbing through The Unforgettable Buzz taking a look at Toy Fair’s past. One that happened 60 years ago caught our eye, because it featured the first Electric Football “surprise” and perhaps the most influential event in all of Electric Football history.

Former Tudor employee and Gotham Vice President in 1954.

It was at the 1954 Toy Fair that the Gotham Pressed Steel Corporation showed up with an Electric Football game to compete with the Tudor’s five-year-old Tru-Action No. 500 model. Former Tudor employee and now Gotham Vice President Eddie Gluck was the driving force behind Gotham’s entry into Electric Football. With his sporting background and extensive toy industry contacts, Gluck was sure he could sack Norman Sas and Tudor, and make Gotham the dominant player in Electric Football.

Gotham digging in at the scrimmage line signaled two very important things:

1) Electric Football was so popular that another company wanted a cut of Tudor’s profits.

2) The game and its features would begin to evolve and change as Tudor and Gotham competed for consumers.  

All that happened in Electric Football after Gotham began selling Electric Football in 1954 – grandstands, large games, NFL licensing, 3-D players, 3-D NFL players, battery-powered floodlights – is, as they say, history.

And it’s all in The Unforgettable Buzz.

Earl & Roddy

The 1954 Gotham G-880 All-Star Electric Football Game.