The Unforgettable Buzz: The History of Electric Football and Tudor Games
"The Unforgettable Buzz is a gem of a book, full of riveting stories and interesting facts. Earl Shores and Roddy Garcia have done the fascinating history of electric football and Tudor Games a proud service. Even though it's 650 pages long (because of its scholarship it needs that), it bears reading in one long go - or, my preference, lots of daily exciting dips to prolong the pleasure."-- Eric Clark, author,The Real Toy Story"Earl Shores and Roddy Garcia have written one of the most in depth histories of toy manufacturing and the only resource I've seen on electric football. The level of detail they bring is astounding, intermixed with the development of the original game, licensing, player design, the NFL and historic games that fed into the popularity of professional football, the skirmishes with other competitors that also started selling their own versions of vibrating football, marketing and a good bit of American history thrown in as well."-- Glen Harmon, editor,Action Figure Times"The Unforgettable Buzz is a must read for anyone who loves football, follows the toy industry, or wants to connect with a classic game and hobby."  -- Doug Strohm, president, Tudor Games"A fascinating and absorbing look at the life and history of one of America's (and my own) best-loved games, all played out against the backdrop of its times, the booming consumer culture and always-competitive toy industry."  -- Christopher Byrne aka The Toy Guy©, author ofToy Timeand creative director of TimetoPlayMag.comThe Unforgettable Buzzwas inspired by a simple premise: For millions of Baby Boomer boys, finding an Electric Football game under the tree was "A Christmas Story" moment - that is, receiving the best gift ever.Yet the story of Electric Football ranges far beyond Christmas morning. With the fate of Tudor Metal Products riding on his decision making skills, 23-year-old MIT graduate Norman Sas invented Electric Football at a time in the late 1940's when both television and football were starting to make their mark on American culture. The growing popularity of a toy and a sport intertwined over the next decade, as football became a fixture on television and Electric Football achieved featured toy status in the Sears ChristmasWish Book.Mr. Sas' knack for exquisite timing surfaced again when he landed an NFL license for Electric Football right on the eve of the NFL-AFL merger in 1966. For the next decade Tudor's line of NFL Electric Football games would provide NFL Properties with nearly two-thirds of its income. This remarkable success came despite competition from three other Electric Football makers, including one by run a former Tudor employee.The Unforgettable Buzzis thefirst and onlybook ever written on the subject of Electric Football. But the book is about much more than just a game. It also chronicles the rise of the NFL and the hyper-expansion of the Boomer generation toy industry. Only during this unique period of time could Electric Football have come into existence and flourished as professional football soared to the exalted cultural summit of "America's Game."