In the 1960s-1970s they started teaching blocking & tackling different then they did before. Don’t hit with the shoulder “stick your helmet\head in there” was what you heard from the coaches even on the little league level. Use your helmet\head as your main striking weapon. I remember the change it was in jr high football.
I played in the early 90s. Same story.
What idiocy. Yeah, it’s effective. But hard on the neck and esp. the head.
I was a WR. Concussion came when I was defenseless going up for a ball and got utterly splatted by two guys hitting me on opposite sides at the same time. But I didn’t drop the ball! /SMILE
I did walk to the wrong sideline. Had no idea where I was. No flag though. Grr. Did get the first down. /Smile again
That was 30+ years ago and think I can still feel that hit. LOL
Yeah. When CTE in NFL players began to be widely discussed, twenty years ago, the story was about how guys who played in the leather helmet days, like Sammy Baugh, were still whip smart in their 80s, while guys who had been retired for just a decade were a neurological messes.