• The KillerFrogs

Thoughts on 817 helmets?

Couple other ideas I’ll just throw out there:

1) Frog fountain logo with two horned frogs in front ready to fight
2) A Chipotle logo with a Dwight Smith silhouette in the background smoking a cig
3) A penis cookie
4) Could also add a patch:
brinks-logo-blue.png
 

Deep Purple

Full Member
In the olden days after direct dial became the norm, telephone numbers (up into the '80s) had a two letter prefix where the first two letters corresponded with the first two numbers. On rotary phones each letter had 3 letters, for example 2 was A, B, C, 3 was D, E, F and so on.

So PEnnsylvania was to help people (way back when) recall phone numbers.
The alphabetic prefix in telephone numbers wasn't to "help people recall numbers."

Before the addition of modern switching equipment, the prefix represented a physical exchange site where operators at switchboards manually connected calls within a defined service area. This remained the case even after most large urban areas eliminated switchboard operators, adopting automatic switching and direct dialing during the 1940s. However, an automated exchange was still tied to a defined service area, hence the retention of the prefix. The exchange prefixes were standardized by AT&T during the 1940s and 1950s:

MU = Murray Hilll
OV = Overland
BL = Baldwin
etc.

During 1962-1981, alphabetic prefixes were fazed out in favor of all-numeric calling (ANC), which was more flexible, more expansion-friendly, and easily allowed for consolidating smaller service areas in a single larger area.

Source: My uncle, who joined the Bell System as a lineman in 1947 and climbed the corporate later for the next 44 years until he retired in 1991.
 

HornyWartyToad

Active Member
It was a New York City phone number.

In the olden days after direct dial became the norm, telephone numbers (up into the '80s) had a two letter prefix where the first two letters corresponded with the first two numbers. On rotary phones each number had 3 letters, for example 2 was A, B, C, 3 was D, E, F and so on.

So PEnnsylvania was to help people (way back when) recall phone numbers. Each number prior to 1990 was seven digits. The area code existed but was ONLY used for long distance/toll calls. So this number with the PE prefix was 736-5000. (Before the 1950s there were only 6 digits, in this case the "6" would not have existed, it'd been 73-5000. As part of the adoption process of more residential phones coming online post-WW2, it was necessary to create more numbers by adding digits. Today, the area code overlays and shrinking geography of traditional area codes serve the same purpose: more demand for phone numbers.)

It was a joke. There was literally one lyric line, "Pennsylvania 6-5-thousand," repeated like 5 times throughout a tediously repetitious and too-long instrumental. Although, there was that one verse where they got absolutely bonkers and went, "Pennsylvania 6-5-oh-oh-oh!"
 

Virginia Frog

Active Member
The alphabetic prefix in telephone numbers wasn't to "help people recall numbers."

Before the addition of modern switching equipment, the prefix represented a physical exchange site where operators at switchboards manually connected calls within a defined service area. This remained the case even after most large urban areas eliminated switchboard operators, adopting automatic switching and direct dialing during the 1940s. However, an automated exchange was still tied to a defined service area, hence the retention of the prefix. The exchange prefixes were standardized by AT&T during the 1940s and 1950s:

MU = Murray Hilll
OV = Overland
BL = Baldwin
etc.

During 1962-1981, alphabetic prefixes were fazed out in favor of all-numeric calling (ANC), which was more flexible, more expansion-friendly, and easily allowed for consolidating smaller service areas in a single larger area.
In the '60s my family # was TEmple, my friend across the street was OVerlook, and neighbors down the street was KIng. So the "physical exchange(s)" must have been only quasi-geographic. In later years, the '70s, my brother ran a business from the basement - a youth entrepreneur - and had phones with all three of these sequences.

In an article I found:

"Because these telephone exchanges could only facilitate around 10,000 subscribers, many large cities had multiple hubs."

Also, regarding the alphabetic prefix: "Full words were used in order to help customers remember the telephone exchange name, and because they were easy to understand, especially for switchboard operators."

It was around 1990 when Northern Virginia/DC area added the area code as a component of the local number. Then you had to dial 1 first to differentiate toll/long distance calls. I imagine that was phased-in around the country.

At that time, Virginia Frog was quoted on the front page of the "Washington Post" about the consumer behavior of dialing 10 digits vs. 7. I guess that was my "15 minutes of fame!":)
 

FrogByBirth

Ticket Exchange Pass
Was watching the Texas game last night and kind of liked UTSA's helmets with 210 on one side.

Doubt TCU would consider a helmet like that for maybe just the SMU game each year.

Just a thought.
View attachment 12048
Talk about dumb. It looks stupid, it sounds stupid and it says “we’re stupid”.

Ask yourself this:
Would Alabama, Clemson, Ohio St., Notre Dame, Oklahoma, LSU, Michigan, Oregon, Southern Cal, Penn St., Wisconsin, Georgia, any D1 school in Florida and 120 other FBS teams I could name do it?!

It says “we’re too stupid to promote our school”.
 

82 Frog Fever

Active Member
If you play for the YMCA, PBC or SMU, it sounds like a great idea.
If you play for a major university with a $40+ million football budget, it’s incredibly dumb.
 

HG73

Active Member
Okay to put something on the uniform or helmet that alludes to our FW heritage. Personally I like 1873 as a patch or small decal on the helmet. The commentators will explain it because it will be a curiosity. Then people will know that our little college is 150 years old and started out in the wild wild west. A little local color and some history will add to our story. "Same field where Sammy and Davey played, Bob Lilly, Ladanian Tomlinson. Been some history here." Compelling story.
 
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