Heh I thought the box man was kneeling to line up his putt. I wonder what he did with the box when they ran over him (every third play or so)?
Not the boxman. That is the Head Linesman, he is carrying a "stick". He uses the stick (it has a sharp point so he can push it into the turf) to mark the spot of forward progress so he can leave the spot to relay a ball or go to the sideline and personally instruct the chains and box man regarding the spot.
I guess they weren't as Health & Safety concious back then! The stick eventually went the same way as honking the wrist horn for fouls, wearing bow ties, etc and fell into disuse....
As for the Ref diving, that is extreme. But back then they did not work as a crew like we do today. Crazy as it seems to us today, the R was responsible for all forward progress spots, and for deciding scores. In the 1930's some conferences started letting wing officials put one arm up to signal dead ball when the runner crossed the GL, but still only the R would signal with two arms.
