Remember the guy who caused the fumble that Minnesota Viking Jim Marshall ran the wrong way against the 49ers in 1964? Michael Jackson sure does. That player would be Bill Butler, one of the many veteran NFL players Jackson has interviewed for his NFL history podcast and blog The Game Before the Money. His book of those interviews is The Game Before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL, available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel and the University of Nebraska Press. His other works include a study of the 1979 Oilers, “Red, White, and Columbia Blue: Chasing the Dream with the 1979 Houston Oilers.”   

Jackson also co-hosts a Saturday morning radio show with Upton Bell from 10 to 11 on the SportsMap Radio Network, carried by about 70 stations nationwide.  

Furthermore, he is a veteran Strat-O-Matic player — and we all know how the cards and dice inspire us to delve more deeply into NFL history. His books, podcast and radio show are the perfect way to learn more about specific eras of the NFL to help inform your replay projects.  

He also recently received a development grant to conduct an oral history project with HBCU players like Hall of Fame Chief and Oiler Elvin Bethea.  

The Game Before the Money website: https://www.thegamebeforethemoney.com/

TGBTM radio show: https://www.sportsmapradio.com/shows/the-game-before-the-money/

Jackson’s author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Michael/e/B08PW2W3BJ?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1656169229&sr=1-1

Bill Butler’s story at TGBTM:  https://www.thegamebeforethemoney.com/bill-butler-nfl-packers-cowboys-steelers-vikings/

Carl Eller remembers Jim Marshall’s wrong-way fumble recovery:  https://www.thegamebeforethemoney.com/cejm/