Detroit Lions

Choose an answer from the three choices and True/False offered after each question and then "Check Your Answers" at the end of the quiz.

1. The Detroit Lions join the NFL in 1930. What was the original name of the team?

• Portsmouth Spartans
• Detroit Tanks
• Oakland Miners

2. What year did the team move to Detroit?

• 1934
• 1936
• 1938

3. Also as the Portsmouth Spartans, the franchise played in an unscheduled NFL championship game against the Chicago Bears in 1932. The Spartans-Bears game was played because both teams ended the regular season with the same number of victories (the Spartans finished at 6-1-4 while the Bears were 6-1-6; ties were not reckoned as part of the percentage in the NFL until 1972). Because of blizzard conditions in Chicago, the game was moved from Wrigley Field indoors to Chicago Stadium, which allowed for only an 80-yard field; some have called the contest the first arena football game. The Bears won, 9–0, and the resulting interest led to the establishment of Eastern and Western conferences and a regular championship game beginning in 1933.

• True or False

4. From 1938 to 1960, where did the Lions play their home games?

• Briggs Stadium
• Ford Field
• Tiger Field

5. Detroit enjoyed its greatest success in the 1950s. They won the league championship in 1952, 1953, and 1957. Who led the team as quarterback?

• Frank Gatski
• Bobby Layne
• Dick “Night Train” Lane

6. In the mid-1960s, the Lions served as the backdrop for the sports literature of Stu Berman, who spent time in the Lions training camp masquerading as a player. This was the basic material for his book Paper Lion, later made into a movie.

• True or False?

7. In 1964, who purchased a controlling interest in the team for $4.5 million.

• William Clay Ford, Sr.
• Edsel Ford, Jr.
• Henry Ford IV

8. Who was the Motown soul singer who made plans, after the death of duet partner, to join the Lions and go into football.

• Levi Stubbs
• Marvin Gaye
• Smoky Robinson

9. During his first season after being drafted in 1989, the Lions running back missed the NFL rushing title by 10 yards because he chose not to go back into the game when the Lions already had the game won. According to Wayne Fontes, when he offered him the chance to gain the yardage and the rushing title, he declined, reportedly saying, "Coach, let's just win it (the game) and go home." Who was the back?

• Doak Walker
• John Henry Johnson
• Barry Sanders

10. Who is the first Detroit Lion to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963?

• Joe Schmidt
• Doak Walker
• Dutch Clark

Check Your Answers

1. Portsmouth Spartans
2. 1934
3. Briggs Stadium
4. True
5. Bobby Layne
6. False. It was George Plimpton.
7. William Clay Ford, Sr.
8. Marvin Gaye
9. Barry Sanders
10. Dutch Clark

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