Thanksgiving Day, 1924. The recently-established tradition of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team hosting the Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions on the afternoon of the national autumnal holiday continues.
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is sent to cover the Pitt-Penn State “Keystone Classic” of 1924; in so doing, he discovers a throughline of the football-on-Thanksgiving tradition going back to 1621 (okay, actually, that’s going back to 1869) and reminds us that high-level football games on Thanksgiving are nearly as old as the official Thanksgiving holiday itself.
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is an audio drama podcast from Number 80 Productions and the Sports History Network.
Thanksgiving and Football (or maybe Vice Versa) script & story by Os Davis.
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer stars Doug Fye, Ilona Fye, and Eric Bodwell. Thanksgiving and Football (or maybe Vice Versa) co-stars, in order of appearance, Caedmon Holland, Forrest Hartl and Wayne Brett.
Additional direction by Eric Bodwell. Sound recording and primary editing by Don McIver.
The theme song of Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is “the Dayton Triangles Rag” and was arranged and performed by Bruce Smith.
Other tracks in this episode include
• “Jazz Club” by Kriss (available through fair-use agreement via FreeMusicArchive.org);
• “Litany of the Street” by Silverman Sound Studios;
• “Bimini Bay” (1921) by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago; and
• “Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer (Outro)” by David Liso of Dynamo Stairs.
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is produced by Os Davis and Darin Hayes. Series concept by Darrin Hayes.
Stay tuned for more episodes of Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer – coming soon!
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