About CFB Incubator
The College Football Incubator is a reporting and researching project at the intersection of author Matt Bufano’s three favorite topics: Northeastern Pennsylvania, sports and history.
Its name derives from a report, published in newspapers nationwide, which touted the Wyoming Valley as “the incubator of college grid performers.” Mind you, this article predated the prodigious careers of Raghib “Rocket” Ismail at Notre Dame and Charley Trippi at Georgia. No, this reputation was earned and written about all the way back in 1932.
Sometimes, locals refer to the area as “the center of the universe” because seemingly every person and event of consequence is somehow connected to it. The same could be said about college football, a sport whose history dates back to 1869 and whose players, coaches, games and programs could all be linked back in some way to NEPA.
Simply put: the story of college football couldn’t be fully told without mentioning the contributions the Greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area made to it.
While the region’s baseball luminaries — including Christy Mathewson and Hughie Jennings, each dead almost 100 years — have thankfully remained relevant, the same cannot be said for the college football figures who were once household names here and abroad.
CFB Incubator’s goal is to educate and entertain, to reintroduce hundreds of outstanding athletes and their feats back into the spotlight.
Questions? Thoughts? Email me (Matt) at mattbufanophoto@gmail.com or reach out via Twitter/X @MattBufano.
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Profile image of Roger Americo “Bob” Nanni courtesy of Sports Information Office: Photographic Negatives Collection, circa 1924-1992, 1995, undated, Duke University Archives
