Norman Sas

Norman Anders Sas (March 29, 1925 – June 28, 2012) was an American toy inventor, mechanical engineer and manufacturer who is best known for inventing electric football, a tabletop game popular from the late 1940s until the development of video football games in the 1980s.

Early years Sas was born in New York in 1925. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, he served in the United States Navy and also received bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and business administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management after being admitted as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program.

In 1967, Sas entered into a licensing agreement with the National Football League allowing the company to use team colors and player names on the game's figures. Over 40 million copies of the game were ultimately sold. Michael David Smith of NBC Sports recalled:

Quote|For the first decade or so of its partnership with the NFL, Electric Football was stunningly popular: Young football fans couldn’t get enough of strategizing with their 11 plastic players, putting them in just the right formation so that the ball carrier would vibrate his way into the end zone. Of course, the game’s motions were so unpredictable that the ball carrier was liable to go backward for a safety, but no matter: The game was pure fun.

Later years Sas lived in Alpine, New Jersey for more than 30 years, where he served on the borough council, planning board and a volunteer for the Reliance Fire Department. He was also a member of the New York Athletic Club, the Knickerbocker Country Club, and the Englewood Field Club.

Sas sold his company to Miggle Toys in the 1980s and retired in 1988. He moved to Vero Beach, Florida in the late 1990s, and died at his home there in June 2012 at age 87. He was inducted into the Miniature Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in August 2012. Sas was survived by his wife, Irene Sas, to whom he had been married for 62 years.