Football America

Football America is a book and film series that was released by the National Football League in 1992. It was also the name of a followup series that aired on NFL Network from 2003 to 2005 on a regular basis.

The books and TV shows were feature stories about various players and teams. Among the stories:

• A 65-year-old semipro football player in Agoura Hills, California, who played against opponents a fraction of his age.
• Dot Easterwood Murphy, head football coach at Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Mississippi.
• The football rivalry between members of the New York City fire and police departments.
• An Arab-American football star at Azusa Pacific University who uses football to overcome increasing hostility against his people following "9/11."
• Players at Linfield College in Oregon caught in the crossfire of the Pearl Harbor attack.
• A single-wing offense run by a small college and a high school.
• "Turkey Bowl" flag football games in Massachusetts and North Carolina.
• A "Turkey Bowl" full contact game set in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
• The Gallaudet College team.

Turner Network Television, which then held partial rights to NFL games, telecast the original film in 1992. The 2003-05 series was hosted by veteran sportscaster Charley Steiner. It aired on Sunday and Monday nights, at the same time ESPN and ABC presented their prime time games.

Football America was "cancelled" by NFL Network in 2006, when the network revamped its lineup; there is now more emphasis on live programs and major projects like America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions. But the show still appears very occasionally; the show aired at the same time the Thanksgiving Classic games were played in 2006.