When the Colts rolled up the rug, so to speak, it marked the first time since 1970 that the NFL has been AstroTurf-free. If you want to get technical and include the pre-merger Houston Oilers in the equation, you can go back even a little further. It is unlikely that anyone shed a tear as the last of “the rug” was taken up, least of all those who made a living on it.

Though AstroTurf was hailed at first as an end to rain-, mud-, and snow-plagued games, it soon fell out of favor with players and coaches. It did away with mud-caked warriors and even reduced some kinds of injuries, but it also gave rise to other types of injuries. “Carpet burns” were the least of these.

Poor Wendell Davis, a wide receiver for the Bears in the 1990s, blew out both knees on one play! It happened on Oct. 10, 1993 when Chicago was hosted by the Eagles on Veterans Stadium’s notorious turf. For years the Vet’s AstroTurf was the unquestioned leader as the NFL’s worst playing surface. Ravens head coach Brian Billick once refused to let his team play on the horrendous surface for an exhibition game in August 2001.

Perhaps John Madden described artificial surfaces best: “If you want to know what it feels like to play on AstroTurf, take a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet, lay it down on your blacktop driveway, and let your kids tackle you. Boom!”

As injuries mounted and opposition to playing on the turf grew, studies were commissioned. Depending on whose you read, the artificial surface either did or did not cause more injuries than natural grass.

But a 1995 survey of nearly 1,000 NFL players showed that 93 percent felt that artificial surfaces caused more injuries. Hall of Fame FB Larry Csonka probably spoke for an overwhelming majority of players when he said, “If a cow can’t eat it, I don’t want to play on it.”

As poor as AstroTurf’s reputation was, it might not have had to have been that way. Robert E. Smith is the author of the book “Business Yarns.” A 1939 graduate of Bucknell University (thanks to the Bison’s stunning upset of the University of Kansas in the latest NCAA men’s basketball tournament, further amplification of Bucknell might not be needed), Smith played basketball at BU but had a distinguished four-decade career in textiles — much of it with Chemstrand.

In the early 1960s, Smith was involved with acrylic synthetic fibers, particularly a combination of Acrilan and nylon fibers. A product was designed to replace grass and thus reduce golf-course maintenance costs to a fraction. Good idea, bad results. Greens and fairways just wouldn’t have been the same. Next, the product — which had not yet been named — was tried in the gymnasium at Moses Brown School in Providence, R.I. It was OK for some indoor sports but not basketball or volleyball.

Then came “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” aka the Houston Astrodome. Seating 60,000, the stadium had a covering dome made of DuPont Lucite. All was well until baseball’s Houston Astros tried playing in the Dome. The glare from the Lucite caused lost balls, dropped balls, near collisions and collisions.

Judge Roy Hofheinz, owner of the National League baseball team and the driving force behind the Astrodome, ordered the roof painted white. That solved the glare situation, but created another problem — the lack of direct sunlight killed the grass within two weeks. Every three weeks, the judge had to re-sod the field — the dying grass was spray-painted green during the third week.

As Smith writes, “I got a phone call from the judge one day. He heard about Moses Brown School and wanted to talk. He gave us three months to come up with something. We had a fiber that could be woven into something like grass, but we (Chemstand, by now having been taken over by Monsanto) didn’t have machines large enough for anything like a ball-diamond surface.”

Smith called on a friend at Mohawk Carpet, and the company’s 15-foot looms were “just the ticket.”

He continued writing, “With the help of an outstanding master’s degree student — Greek native Panyoti Gregoriou — from North Carolina State’s highly regarded textile school, we manufactured and installed the first AstroTurf. We finished the job just (21) hours before the March 29, 1966, game between the Astros and the (Los Angeles) Dodgers.”

At first the turf was only laid on the infield. The outfield was laid in August when the Astros were on a road trip. The first football game played was Dec. 3, 1966, when the University of Houston mauled Utah, 63-7. The Oilers played their 1969 home schedule indoors and continued to do so until leaving town after the 1997 season.

Smith wrote somewhat wistfully, “In my biased opinion, AstroTurf never reached the success it deserved. Monsanto never recognized that the product needed further development. Customers were soon permitted or even encouraged to install it ON TOP OF A FIELD COVERED WITH ASPHALT (author’s emphasis), instead of on a more cushioning base.”

The bottom line was the bottom line — it was easier and cheaper using the unintended way of installation over the unyielding surface.

Who knows? Maybe if AstroTurf and similar products had been used the way they were intended, they might not have been the butt of so many bad jokes. Thankfully, a new generation of artificial turf is used very effectively where natural grass isn’t feasible.

Jim Campbell has been an observer of the pro football scene for half a century, including stints with the Hall of Fame, NFL Properties and NFL Alumni. 

The above content is featured from our Pro Football Weekly print edition — Issue 10.