The Largest League in the DEEP SOUTH

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to North Carolina and attend the BULL CITY BRAWL tournament event of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) Miniature Electric Football series of Championship Tournaments.

I originally intended to just be an observer at this event, but because one of the coaches who had been scheduled to play was a no show, I was “drafted” to play in this tournament.  

Here I am “observing” the check in procedure and then checking in my borrowed team with the help of MUSIC CITY EFL league mate, AK Fox, with whom I traveled from Nashville, TN, home of the MUSIC CITY Electric Football League. 

Needless to say, I was “unprepared” to play in this tournament, but did finish with a “respectful” 0-3 record in pool play and failed to make the cut to the elimination rounds. But I had a “BULL CITY BLAST” playing in this inaugural event. Look forward to attending and playing again next year.  BUT THAT IS NOT THE REASON FOR THIS BLOG POST. 

The purpose of this article is that while attending the BULL CITY BLAST, I ran into an old friend and “pioneer” of the electric football league and tournament circuit. DAVID NICHOLS. 

 

David and I first met at the 1999 Electric Football Convention and SUPER BOWL Tournament hosted by Miggle Toys (then owners of Tudor Games from 1991 – 2011) held in Philadelphia PA. David Nichols and Steve Graham from Oxford and Lincoln, AL were organizers of the original BAMA BLAST tournaments held in Birmingham, AL as well as an electric football league that played in the Birmingham area. Since I was living in Loretto, TN at the time (a short 2 hours away), they invited me to come down to the 1999 BAMA BLAST the following June. 

IT WAS WHILE ATTENDING THAT TOURNAMENT that I met many more members of the ELECTRIC FOOTBALL COMMUNITY that led to the beginning of my now over 20 year friendship with David Nichols.  

When I started The National ELECTRIC FOOTBALL Game Museum, David was one of the first persons I called to donate some materials and historical information regarding electric football league and tournament play and competitions. 

Last week I received a box of these materials from David.   

Slideshow of the photos contained in this collection 

I have watched the DVD’s from this collection, that brought back to mind  some very good long forgotten memories and I plan to upload them to a youtube channel that I plan to launch within the week as soon as I get everything set up. Since I don’t own a VHS player any longer, it is going to be awhile before I can watch these videos, but thanks to my brother, Chuck LeMay, I now have a “loaner” DVD / VCR player so that I can see the contents of the VHS tapes. 

I do plan on converting these tapes to digital DVD or CD media storage but, I did not realize how expensive this was. SO if anyone in the Electric Football Community can help me out with this, I would greatly appreciate it. OF COURSE donations are always welcome and I may start a fundraiser for this project soon. In the meantime, I will do what I can to preserve these materials and get them added to the NEFGM Library archives.    

AND SO HERE IS A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to DAVID NICHOLS and the MEMBERS of the DEEP SOUTH MINIATURE FOOTBALL LEAGUE -“The Largest League in the Deep South” for this generous and very significant donation to “preserving the buzzzzz…” and the history of the game and hobby of ELECTRIC FOOTBALL.

-Chris LeMay, Founder and Curator of the National ELECTRIC FOOTBALL Game Museum –