Craig Muder, director of communications for the Baseball of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, previews for us the big events coming up for 2023 (one of which will be the first-ever tabletop sports gaming event, courtesy of the APBA Football Club and our organizing committee).

American football Italian style comes to Toledo, Ohio, on Fourth of July weekend when the 42nd Italian Bowl kicks off — the first time the Italian football championship will be held outside Europe.   

The Professional Football Researchers Association, launched in 1979 in Canton, Ohio, is renowned for the depth, breadth and quality of its knowledge base of American football throughout the decades and around the world. President George Bozeka provides an overview of the organization and its member benefits, and also previews the special events planned for the PFRA's annual convention July 27-30 in Pittsburgh.  

Video version: https://youtu.be/tuh-s6QSIts

Straddling the line between pure arcade fun and statistics-based simulation, PSF’s latest iteration, released Sept. 8, features a wealth of new features and aesthetics. Designer Kerry Batts takes us behind his thought process, the many community contributions to PSF 2023, and some of the key new features he’s cooking up for ’24.  

Video version: https://youtu.be/mNnTJilJiHE

Mark "Xcommish2" DerGarabedian has been a fixture in the APBA modding community for years. He started playing APBA baseball at a friend’s house in Fresno, California, and has stayed hooked since. He's even rolled a few games with his 18-year-old son.   

Video version: https://youtu.be/KjYvVV7gL5I

Anthony Giacobbe Jr. spent a good deal of time writing for the APBA Journal during a pivotal period for the company — the 1990s — and reviewing version 1's and version 2's of PC games. He also worked on the '90s revamp of the basketball game. He even created a Greek Olympics game, pieces and all, for a fourth-grade history class, and later crafted an early computer basketball game — in the era before hard drives on home PCs were common.   

Video version: https://youtu.be/CjUreBizHl4

We tabletop football gamers use Pro Football Reference with startling frequency, either to prepare for replay projects or get ideas for them. Alex Bonilla is one of the football minds behind PFR.

Board game designer and educator/coach Joe Slack has worked with more than 4,000 game designers to take the ideas in their heads and turn them into reality. Whether helping games by others off the ground or launching his own titles under the Crazy Like A Box brand, Joe is keen to help game designers hone their vision and game play through a variety of course offerings. His book “The Board Game Designer’s Guide” is a No. 1 best-seller, and he’s got plenty of new work on the immediate horizon:  

APBA Hall of Famer, former APBA Journal writer and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers statistician Ray Dunlap presents his  league-building tips on Aug. 24, 2013, at the APBA Football Club's inaugural tournament at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.   

For decades, 86-year-old Ange Coniglio has been perhaps the foremost authority on and advocate for the achievements and legacy of the American Football League. The lifelong Buffalo Bills fan created his AFL website (remembertheafl.com) as an exhaustive repository for all manner of knowledge regarding the league — from the all-time AFL roster and a photo gallery of his personal AFL Hall of Fame to an AFL reading list, a memorabilia gallery, team histories, stats and more. Other AFL researchers point to Ange as the “godfather” of AFL history for his efforts — which have ranged from sending color film of the AFL to Sports Illustrated when the magazine would only run black-and-white AFL images, to writing letters to AFL legends including Lamar Hunt and Ralph C. Wilson. W

In our interview, three days before his Aug. 21 birthday, Ange paints a colorful portrait of the men of that innovative league and their legendary exploits.

Remember the AFL: remembertheafl.com

Tales from the AFL (Todd Tobias): https://talesfromtheamericanfootballleague.com/

Remember the AFL Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/297706681489

AFL Anthology Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/AFLAnthology