Patent ID: 7293296

Claim:
A football glove for preventing hyperextension of fingers, said football glove comprising: a hand covering portion for covering a palm and back of a user's hand; a plurality of form fitting finger receiving receptacles extending from said hand covering portion, and in communication with said hand covering portion, each of said finger receiving receptacles includes a front and a back for receiving therebetween a finger of the user's hand covered by said hand covering portion; a unidirectional stiffener having an upper interlocking ladder section having a first set of flexible sidebars joined together by rungs, and a lower interlocking ladder section having a second set of flexible sidebars joined together by rungs, with the upper interlocking ladder section and lower interlocking ladder section snapped together in a common plane with interdigitated rungs, fixed relative to at least one of said finger receiving receptacles adjacent said back of said at least one finger receiving receptacle extends toward said hand covering portion, wherein said unidirectional stiffener is bendable toward said front of said at least one finger receiving receptacle to allow the user's finger to naturally curl toward the user's palm and is substantially rigid in an opposing direction to prevent hyperextension of the user's finger.