Who Were The Los Angeles Bulldogs?

The Los Angeles Bulldogs were a professional American football team that competed from 1936 to 1948 (the last year as the Long Beach Bulldogs). Formed with the intention of joining the National Football League in 1937 (and turned down in favor of the Cleveland Rams), the Bulldogs were the first team on the major league level to play its home games on the American West Coast (the NFL's Los Angeles Buccaneers and the first AFL's Wildcats of 1926 were actually traveling teams based in Chicago). They were considered "the best football team in existence outside the NFL".

The 1937 Bulldogs are one of three pro football teams that have gone undefeated and untied during a season, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins (17–0–0, NFL), and the 1948 Cleveland Browns (15–0–0, AAFC). The Bulldogs hold the distinction of being the first.

The Bulldogs joined the second American Football League, in 1937 and proceeded to become the first professional football team to win a league championship with a perfect record (no losses or ties), having won all eight of its league games that season (counting all exhibition games, they won all 16 of their 1937 contests). After the dissolution of the second AFL after the 1937 season, they returned to independent football for 1938, having a 2–1–2 record against NFL teams that season.

For the 1939 season, the Bulldogs joined fellow second AFL franchise Cincinnati Bengals in joining another American Football League just before the league changed its name to the American Professional Football League. The two newcomers dominated their new league, finishing with the two greatest winning percentages, but at the league meetings, the Columbus Bullies were announced as the league champions. Shortly afterward, the Bulldogs announced their intention to leave the AFL to become a charter member of a new Pacific Coast Professional Football League (the AFL soon dissipated when three more member teams defected to a new league, which soon became the “third American Football League”).

Winning PCPFL championships in 1940 and 1946, the Bulldogs were the only team to compete in the league in every year of its existence (1940–1948). With the establishment of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and Los Angeles Dons in the All-America Football Conference in 1946, the popularity of the Bulldogs diminished to the point of moving their home games from Gilmore Stadium to Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach in 1948, and when the attendance dropped below 1,000 people per game, the Bulldogs and the PCPFL folded.

The L.A. Bulldogs were formed in 1936 with the expressed intention of joining the National Football League. In the wake of failed professional football leagues on the American West Coast (the first two Pacific Coast Leagues in 1926 and in 1934, the American Legion Pro Football League in 1935), the Los Angeles regional chapter of the American Legion hired Harry Myers and budgeted $10,000 in payroll money to put together a team after being granted a “probationary franchise” by the NFL. Myers' first hire was Gus Henderson as the team's first head coach; both started to sign players with NFL experience (lineman Ray Richards (formerly of the Chicago Bears) and end Ike Frankian of the New York Giants) and University of Tulsa alumni Roy Berry, Hal Wickersham, Frank Greene, and Homer Reynolds, all of whom played for Henderson.

In the premier season of 1936, superlatives came early for the new team. Gil Lefebvre had already established himself as a punt return threat, and both Berry and Ed Stark electrified crowds with their long runs.

While professional football leagues often had traveling teams, the Bulldogs played all their games of the 1936 in 18,000-seat Gilmore Stadium. Six of the contests involved NFL teams – the Bulldogs beat the Chicago Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Eagles and tied the Brooklyn Dodgers before being shut out by the Chicago Bears and NFL champion Green Bay Packers to conclude a 6–3–1 inaugural campaign by the Bulldogs. The team had averaged 9,400 fans in the stands for the season, and over 12,000 per game in the second half.

At the 1936 NFL owners' meeting, Myers joined representatives from Houston and Cleveland to pitch their teams for possible expansion. While Myers had a “probationary franchise” and an implied promise that the team would join the league, the NFL owners chose Homer Marshman's Cleveland Rams, second-place finishers in the second AFL in 1936. Soon afterward, the Bulldogs opted to take the Rams’ place in the AFL.

Despite the new league, the Los Angeles Bulldogs' roster stayed relatively constant. Former Chicago Cardinals back Al Nichelini joined the team. Back Bill Howard led the league in scoring as the Bulldogs marched through the American Football League’s schedule, being the first professional football team to win all their contests and win the league championship in the same season.

With the collapse of the second American Football League, playing games against NFL teams became an option for the Bulldogs again for 1938 as they returned to independent status. The season featured games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, both Chicago NFL teams, and the Cleveland Rams, plus two games against former AFL franchise Cincinnati. The Bulldogs were asked by Hollywood Stars owner Paul Schissler to join his new California League as a rival to his team, but Myers declined the offer, dooming the league.

The Bulldogs followed their perfect season with a 10–2–2 campaign, including a 2–1–2 record in games against NFL teams (the Chicago teams in Charleston, West Virginia, the Pittsburgh Pirates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and home games against the Pirates and the Rams). LA’s other loss was to the Bengals, which also had success against the NFL teams after the dissolution of the second AFL.

The following year featured several changes for the Bulldogs, most notably a new owner (Jerry Corcoran), a new league (another American Football League, soon to change its name to the American Professional Football Association), and a new head coach (Ike Frankian replacing Gus Henderson). Kicker George Karamatic was signed from the Washington Redskins, and they lost their star of their backfield Bill Howard.

After losing their opening game to the Redskins and being shut out in their opening APFA game by the Columbus Bullies, the Bulldogs found their stride in the new league, including beating their old nemesis Cincinnati Bengals once and Columbus thrice. As the season progressed, their offense strengthened as they beat the Dayton Bombers 65–0 on Thanksgiving weekend and the St. Louis Gunners 56–14 in mid-December. As the season ended, the Bulldogs’ 7–1 (.875) record had them placed atop the league standings, ahead of Cincinnati’s 6–2 (.750) and Columbus’ 9–4 (.692). Yet in a league meeting on January 7, 1940, Columbus was declared the league champion, with a 9–2 (.818) record.

Shortly afterward, Jerry Corcoran and Paul Schlissler announced the formation of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League as the APFA announced its intentions to become a major professional football league. With the departure of the Bulldogs to the new PCPFL and the defection of Cincinnati, Columbus, and a new Milwaukee AFPA team to a new East Coast-based league, the old AFL was fatally split and dissipated as two other AFPA teams’ applications to the new American Football League were eventually turned down.

From the beginning, the PCPFL became a showcase for the Bulldogs and Schissler’s (newly renamed) Hollywood Bears as the league did something that the NFL did not do at the time, employ African American players. While the Bears featured the talents of Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, and Kink Richards, the Bulldogs relied upon local talent as well (including, briefly, in 1941, a UCLA Bruin who lettered in four sports: Jackie Robinson). The availability of Washington to the Bears determined the league championship in 1940 and 1941 as he was injured for a Bruins-Bulldogs game that resulted in Los Angeles winning the championship with a 7–2–1 record; a healthy Washington powered Hollywood’s undefeated romp through the schedule the following year (including three defeats of the Bulldogs as LA finished in second place with a 4–4 record). It did not matter at the time that the league would end the 1941 season two weeks early because of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U. S. military’s ongoing fear of a possible Japanese attack on the American West Coast.

Unlike the Dixie League, the American Association, and the third American Football League, the PCPFL joined the NFL in continuing its competition in the World War II years of 1941–1945. The league schedule was pared as Paul Schissler entered military service and wound up coaching the Santa Ana Flyers, a service team coached by former Bulldog Garrett Arbelbide competed against the PCPFL teams in addition to March Field, another service team. Schissler’s Bears, handicapped by the absence of their owner-coach and the unavailability of Kenny Washington, went winless in league play under interim player-coach Kink Richards. The Bulldogs didn’t fare much better, finishing third in the four-team league at 2–2, behind the 4–1 of charter members San Diego Bombers and the 2–1 of the San Francisco Bay Bombers. While the Bombers officially won the 1942 league championship, they lost two games to the March Field Flyers, who were undefeated in five games against league membership.

While the league membership profited at the box office with the games with the service academies, the owners decided that it would be in the league’s best interests not to be overshadowed by the military teams; so the games with March Field and Santa Ana were dropped. It was first of several changes of the PCPFL for 1943, some involving the Los Angeles Bulldogs.

The league expanded from four to eight teams, with the return of the Oakland Giants after a two-season absence, and the addition of the Richmond Boilermakers (who dropped out midway through league play), the Alameda Mustangs (who moved to San Jose in 1944), and the Los Angeles Mustangs resulted in the league having four Los Angeles teams for competition, with one in particular creating controversy and bitter feelings for succeeding years.

Almost immediately after being granted an expansion franchise for the Los Angeles Mustangs, owner Bill Freelove surprised the league membership by signing virtually the entire roster of the 1942 Los Angeles Bulldogs. Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran was contemplating the suspension of the team for 1943 when the league gave a “leave of absence” to the Hollywood Bears, whose owner and star were both unavailable for competition. As a result, Corcoran was able to sign most of the Bears (including Kink Richards), and the Bulldogs had the manpower to participate in the 1943 PCPFL season. The reconstituted team finished in fifth place with a 3–4 record, one win behind Freelove’s Mustangs (4–4), which finished in a tie for second with Oakland. The San Diego Bombers won its second consecutive league title with a 7–1 record.

After the end of the 1943 season, the off-the-field fireworks continued. The league ownership registered their disapproval of Bill Freelove’s raiding of the Bulldogs by refusing to renew his league membership. Freelove responded with the formation of a new American Football League with eight teams from Seattle and Portland to San Diego. As a result, there were an unprecedented five Los Angeles professional football teams operating simultaneously. With the leagues’ talent pool greatly diluted, the Bulldogs struggled to a 2–5 record, good for sixth place in the PCPFL (and only better than the new Hollywood Wolves) as the San Diego Bombers won their third straight league title.

On December 21, 1944, the AFL merged with the PCPFL, with the AFL’s first and second place teams (Hollywood Rangers and San Francisco Clippers) replacing the Wolves and the Packers for the 1945 season. Freelove’s Mustangs were not permitted to join the reformed league and had a short, futile “life” as an independent team. With the return of Paul Schissler and Kenny Washington, the Bears were back, but the Rangers quit the league rather than join forces with the other team from Hollywood (tailback Dean McAdams left the Rangers and signed with the Bulldogs soon afterward). Helped by the defection, the Bulldogs improved to 5–5–1 with the help of a newly signed quarterback, Frankie Albert. The Bulldogs finished in third place, behind a resuscitated Hollywood Bears team (8–2–1) and the Oakland Giants (7–2) led by league MVP Mel Reid, another victim of the NFL color line.

Seven years after playing in front of crowds of 15,000 people as they marched through a perfect season in the major league American Football League, the Bulldogs were averaging less than 10,000 per game in Gilmore Stadium in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League’s last season as the highest level league on the West Coast. While the Bulldogs have one more league championship in the post-World War II years, the anticipated arrival of the Cleveland Rams into Los Angeles heralded seismic changes in the professional football landscape in California.

In 1946, the Bulldogs, which were founded with the intention of joining the National Football League, found themselves competing against the team that entered the NFL in their stead in 1937 and with the formation of the Los Angeles Dons of the new All-America Football Conference, the Bulldogs suddenly found themselves third in the Los Angeles pecking order as both the Rams and the Dons started to draw upwards of 40,000 people in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

While the PCPFL was suddenly diminished in stature with the incursion of the two major leagues into California, the six-year-old league underwent a few changes as it expanded to nine teams and divided into two divisions. Teams based in Honolulu, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and Tacoma, Washington. Team rosters were limited to 25 players, and, for the first time, all league games were to be played on Sunday. The league along with the Dixie League and the newly resuscitated American Association (which changed its name to the American Football League for the 1946 season) entered into a working arrangement with the NFL, agreeing to being, in essence, a farm league to the “big boys” and not allowing any participants in “any outlaw league” (specifically the AAFC) to be a member of any PCPFL team.

The 1946 Bulldogs had 11 players on its roster who had NFL experience, including former Detroit Lions halfback Joe Margucci, lineman Forrest McPherson, and wingback Elvin Hutchison. While the Bulldogs won the Southern Division handily (the Bulldogs’ 9–2–1 vs. the second place Hawaiian Warriors’ 8–4), the Northern Division title was decided by a forfeit in the last game of the season, ironically one involving the Bulldogs.

The San Francisco Clippers apparently defeated Los Angeles by a score of 24–19 and claimed the top spot in the North. When Clippers owner Frank Ciraolo entered his team’s locker room to participate in the victory celebration, he noticed that John Woudenberg, tackle for the AAFC’s San Francisco 49ers, was wearing a uniform that was assigned to the Clippers’ Courtney Thorell. After the “discrepancy” was reported to league officials, the game was declared a 1–0 forfeit to the Bulldogs. As a result, the Northern Division champions were the Tacoma Indians.

The Bulldogs defeated Tacoma in the league championship game, 38–7, on January 19, 1947. The game was played in Gilmore Stadium in front of only 5200 fans. It was the last game of the Indians’ existence, and an indication of the decline of the Bulldogs as a box office draw in Los Angeles.

As the Bulldogs prepared to defend their second PCPFL title (their first since 1940), the league was starting to come apart at the seams in 1947. The runners-up of 1946 (Tacoma) was gone, as were longtime league members Hollywood, San Diego, and Oakland. The emerging Hawaiian Warriors played all their games in Honolulu, depriving the mainlanders an opportunity of playing them in front of a home crowd, and competition from the Dons and the Rams are proving too much for owner Jerry Corcoran, who eventually sold the Bulldogs as he was drowning in red ink. After LA’s 35–34 victory over the Warriors put the two teams in a virtual tie for first place, the Hawaiians won the rematch (and the league championship) 7–6 later in the week.

While it did not involve the Bulldogs, a gambling scandal involving the Hawaiians further reduced whatever fan interest remained for the PCPFL. Fourteen Hawaiian Warriors were suspended, either “permanently” or “indefinitely,” for their part in the scandal. With the departure of Salt Lake and Sacramento after the end of the 1947, the viability of the league was in doubt as only three teams remained.

Former Bulldogs owner Jerry Corcoran, who co-founded the league in 1940, managed a revived Hollywood Bears team in 1948. The Bears, charter members of the PCPFL, rejoined the league as a traveling team. The Bulldogs, under new management, moved their home games to Long Beach, CA, where they played their only home game at Wilson High School's Stephen's Field on October 17, 1948, defeating the Hollywood Bears, 21–7. After playing all of their scheduled road games and the one home game, the Bulldogs were one game behind the Hawaiians, who clinched a tie for the league title with a 5–1 record. The Bulldogs had a 3–1 record and could tie the Warriors if they beat San Francisco and Hollywood in Long Beach, but after drawing only 850 in their first home game, the Bulldogs did not try to play the two rescheduled games, cancelling them instead. The existence of the Bulldogs came to an end; the PCPFL succumbed before the beginning of the 1949 season.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

Bob Gill, with Tod Maher. Outsiders: Minor League And Independent Football, 1923-1950, p. 50. St. Johann Press, 2006. ISBN 187828245X

 The Bulldogs: L.A. Hits the Big Time – Bob Gill, Professional Football Research Association (1984)

 PCPFL: 1940-45 – Bob Gill, Pro Football Research Association (1982)

 The End of the PCPFL – Bob Gill, Pro Football Research Association (1983)

 Tacoma Story – Bart Ripp, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Research Association (2002)

 The End of the PCPFL – Bob Gill, The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Research Association (1983)

 The Salt Lake Seagulls – Mel Bashore, Pro Football Research Association (1992)

Who Were The Cincinnati Bengals (AFL-1937)?

The Cincinnati Bengals was a short-lived professional football team that played in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is unrelated to the current Cincinnati Bengals. Originated by Hal Pennington (who was also the team's first head coach and general manager), the team was formed as a member of the second American Football League in the 1937 season. The Bengals finished with a 2–3–2 record in their first year, but the league folded after the season, and Pennington returned to his former team, the Cincinnati Models, which would change its name to the Cincinnati Blades for an ill-fated 1938 campaign. Pennington was replaced by new player-coach Dana King, who would guide the Bengals for the remainder of the team's existence.

The Bengals continued as an independent team in 1938 (rejecting overtures from the former Midwest Football League, first as the league renamed itself the American Football League and in October 1938 after the dissolution of the Cincinnati Blades). In their one season as an independent, they defeated the Chicago Bears and tied the Chicago Cardinals.

In 1939, the team joined the newly renamed American Professional Football Association after yet another overture, finishing in second place with a 6–2–0 record. The APFA folded as Cincinnati, the Columbus Bullies, and the newly formed Milwaukee Chiefs defected to a newly formed major league, yet another American Football League, for the 1940 season.

In 1940 and 1941, the two Ohio AFL teams were fairly successful at the gate (rivaling their NFL counterparts), before the AFL suspended operations in response to the Pearl Harbor attack. Teams in both leagues were decimated by players being drafted, to the point that there weren’t enough players to field viable rosters in some cases. While the league had every intention of returning after the war (an expansion franchise was awarded to Detroit for the 1942 season before the United States entered World War II), the "third AFL" (and the fourth professional league with the name) never returned to business.

Top-level professional football returned to Cincinnati in 1967, 26 years after the original Cincinnati Bengals folded. Paul Brown headed an ownership group that landed an expansion franchise in the modern-era American Football League that merged with the NFL in 1969. Brown, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who founded and coached the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1962, was well aware of the original Bengals’ success, and named his new team as the Bengals "to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati."

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

 Hal Pennington biography - Xavier University Basketball Hall of Fame

 McDonnell, Jay (June 20, 2010). "The origin of the Cincinnati Bengals". Cincy Jungle. Retrieved March 30, 2017.

Who Were The Syracuse Braves?

The Syracuse Braves were a professional American football team that competed in the second American Football League in 1936 and 1937. Coached by Don Irwin and Red Badgro, the Braves played in Municipal Stadium, which had a capacity of only about 10,000 people. The team was not a strong draw as it lost its first five games, prompting a search for a new home, including Providence, Rhode Island, before settling upon a move to Rochester.

On October 25, 1936, a 16–7 victory over the Boston Shamrocks in Fenway Park provided the franchise its first win in its last game as the Syracuse Braves. The following week would see the newly renamed Rochester Braves face the Shamrocks in a rematch in Silver Stadium. The second half was delayed 40 minutes by Braves players demanding back pay. The game was finished; the Braves lost, 13–0; the franchise folded immediately afterward. Coach Don Irwin joined the New York Yankees, while co-coach Red Badgro returned to the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers to finish the season.

Two weeks later, another AFL team made the trek to Silver Stadium to call it home: the Brooklyn Tigers, having spent most of the 1936 season as a traveling team, became Rochester's third professional football team and continued as the Rochester Tigers in 1937.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

 Braves Lose Again, May Move to Rochester or Providence for Games – Oswego Palladium-Times, October 19, 1936

 Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn, Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (HarperCollins 1999) ISBN 0-06-039232-0

 Braves Lose Again, May Move to Rochester or Providence for Games – Oswego Palladium-Times, October 19, 1936

 History of Football in Western New York

 History of Football in Western New York

 NFL Competitors 1926–1975 – Stephen Hensley, Professional Football Researchers Association (1981)

 History of Football in Western New York

Who Were The Pittsburgh Americans?

The Pittsburgh Americans or Pittsburgh Amerks were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1936 until 1937. The team was a member of the major-league American Football League and participated in the league's 1936 and 1937 seasons.

When plans for the league were announced on November 12, 1935, fifteen cities bid for charter franchises for the new league. On April 11, 1936, Pittsburgh and seven other cities were awarded franchises. The Americans were organized by Dick Guy, a sports editor and business manager for the then-Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Football League. Rudy Comstock who played for five teams in the NFL, was then named the team's coach. The Amerks played all of their home games at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. The team was to have played at Duquesne University; however, the deal to lease the school's facilities fell through. The Amerks were able to purchase a lighting system from a circus.

The Amerks' first-ever league game was played on October 4, 1936 against the Syracuse Braves at MacArthur Stadium. Pittsburgh rallied to win the game 27-16. The team's first season resulted in a winning record and a fourth-place finish for the Americans with a record of 3-2-1. The Americans were also not without stars: they signed former Pittsburgh Pirates' Ben Smith and Loran Ribble. However, the team's performance on the field didn't mirror that of ticket sales and attendance. The Americans finished last in the league for attendance, averaging only 2500 spectators in attendance for home games at Forbes Field. However, the team drew large crowds on the road against the New York Yankees, Rochester Tigers and Boston Shamrocks.

While the Americans survived their first season, the team was folded after the third game of the 1937 season. The team played its first game at Forbes Field against the Los Angeles Bulldogs, which resulted in a 21-0 Bulldogs win. Jess Quatse, a former stand-out for the Pitt Panthers, served as the team's coach. The rest of the league would cease operations at the end of season.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

"Plan New 'Pro' Football League for New Season". The Morning Call. Allentown, PA. Associated Press. November 13, 1935. p. 19.

 "Pro League Ready to Go". Pittsburgh Press. April 12, 1936. p. Sports-1.

 Sell, Jack (October 11, 1963). "The Pittsburgh Amerks". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

 Sell, Jack (October 5, 1936). "Amerks' Strong Finish Beats Syracuse, 17-16". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Who Were The Boston Shamrocks?

The Boston Shamrocks were a professional American football team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The team played in the second American Football League from 1936 to 1937, followed by at least one year as an independent in 1938. The team was coached by George Kenneally and split its games between Braves Field and Fenway Park.

The Shamrocks were a successful franchise in the AFL, outdrawing the NFL's Boston Redskins and prompting George Preston Marshall to move the Redskins to Washington, D.C., where the team remains to this day. During the 1936 American Football League season, the Shamrocks won the league's championship. The Shamrocks did not fare so well in 1937, falling to a 2-7 record that year. During that year, the team managed to sign former Heisman Trophy winner Larry Kelley to a one-game contract; Kelley reneged on the deal and never played.

After the failure of the second AFL (and no apparent effort to join the succeeding minor leagues), the Shamrocks continued as an independent, picking up mostly players that had been released from the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Pittsburgh Steelers). The Steelers, led by Byron White, defeated the Shamrocks 16-6 that year.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

Braunwart, Bob (1979). "All Those A.F.L.'s: N.F.L. Competitors, 1935-41" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Vol. 1, no. 2. Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved May 12, 2010.

 Hensley, Stephen (1981). "NFL Competitors: 1926-1975" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Vol. 3, no. 9. Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.

 Hogrogian, John (1996). "Byron White's Rookie Season" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Vol. 18, no. 6. Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2014.

The Story And Significance Of Bulldog Turner - Selected As A First-Team All-Pro In Eight Of His 13 Seasons

Clyde Douglas "Bulldog" Turner was an American football player and coach. He was elected, as a player, to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966. He was also selected in 1969 to the NFL 1940s All-Decade Team.

Turner played college football as a center at Hardin–Simmons University from 1937 to 1939 and was selected as an All-American in 1939. After being selected by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 1940 NFL Draft, he played professional football for the Bears, principally as a center on offense and linebacker on defense, for 13 years from 1940 to 1952. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro eight times (1940–1944, 1946–1948) and was a member of Bears teams that won NFL championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946.

After his playing career was over, Turner held assistant coaching positions with Baylor University (1953) and the Chicago Bears (1954–1957). He was the head coach of the New York Titans of the American Football League (AFL) during the 1962 AFL season.

Turner enrolled at Hardin–Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, in 1936 at age 17. As a freshman, he weighed 172 pounds and "showed no outward signs of developing into a football player." By the fall of his sophomore year, Turner had gained 18 pounds and won the job as the starting center on the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys football team. By his senior year, he had increased his weight to 235 pounds.

Early in his career at Hardin–Simmons, Turner and teammate A. J. Roy encouraged each other in practice sessions by referring to each other by nicknames. Turner was given the nickname "Bulldog", and Roy was known as "Tiger". Turner later recalled his college experience as follows: "We got room, board and tuition, but we had to buy our own books and we were supposed to take care of two jobs. I had to sweep out the gym and wait tables, but I kind of farmed out the sweeping after a while. It was tough but I loved it. And the more I played, the more I liked the game."

In September 1938, Turner first gained national attention when Associated Press photographer Jimmy Laughead, playing off Turner's strength and his background growing up in West Texas Hereford cattle country, took his picture posing with a 240-pound calf around his shoulders. Turner later recalled posing with the calf: "That day about did me in. I don't think I've ever been so tired in my life."

Turner played center for Hardin–Simmons for three years, and during that time, the football team compiled records of 8–0–1 in 1937, 8–2 in 1938, 7–1–1 in 1939. At the end of the 1939 season, Turner was selected by the New York Sun as the first-team center on the 1939 College Football All-America Team. He was also named to the Associated Press "Little All-America" team. He played in post-season all-star games including the East–West Shrine Game on January 1, 1940, and the Chicago College All-Star Game on August 29, 1940.

In December 1939, Turner was selected by the Chicago Bears with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 1940 NFL Draft. He was the only lineman selected in the first ten picks. In June 1940, Turner signed a three-year contract with the Bears.

While Turner was in college, he was the subject of recruitment efforts by George Richards, the owner of the Detroit Lions. An NFL investigation concluded that Richards had tampered with Turner by paying for Turner's dental work, giving him $100, and advising him to announce publicly that he would not play professional football so as to dissuade other teams from drafting him. The NFL fined the Lions $5,000 for the violation.

As a rookie, Turner, at age 21, appeared in 11 games, nine of them as the starting center, for the 1940 Chicago Bears team that compiled an 8–3 record and defeated the Washington Redskins, 73–0, in the NFL Championship Game. In the championship game, Turner intercepted a Sammy Baugh pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. At the end of the 1940 season, he was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the Chicago Herald-American and as a second-team All-Pro by the National Football League (NFL), United Press (UP), and International News Service (INS). He was one of only two rookies (Don Looney was the other) to receive All-Pro honors in 1940.

In 1941, Turner appeared in all 11 games, 10 as a starter, for the 1941 Bears that compiled a 10–1 and again won the NFL championship. Turner was selected as the All-Pro center, receiving first-team honors on the so-called "official" All-Pro team selected by a committee of professional football writers for the NFL, as well as All-Pro teams selected by the Associated Press (AP), UP, Collyer's Eye (CE), the New York Daily News (NYDN), and the Chicago Herald American. The consensus selection of Turner as the NFL's top center marked a transition from Mel Hein, who had been a consensus All-Pro at the position for the prior nine years. Turner was a unanimous All-Pro pick by the UP sports writers.

In 1942, Turner started all 11 games and helped the Bears win the NFL Western Division title with an 11–0 record, though the team lost to the Washington Redskins in the 1942 NFL Championship Game. Turner led the NFL with eight interceptions in 1942. He scored two touchdowns, one on an interception return and the other on a fumble recovery and return. At the end of the 1942 season, Turner was selected as the first-team center on the All-Pro team by the NFL, AP, INS, and NYDN. Jack Mahon of the INS wrote that Turner "was in a class by himself at center this season." Though invited to play in the Pro Bowl, he was unable to do so due to a throat infection.

In 1943, Turner started all 10 games and helped the Bears win their third NFL championship in four years. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the AP, UP, INS, NYDN, and Pro Football Illustrated (PFI). He was a unanimous pick by the AP sports writers.

In 1944, Turner appeared in all 10 games for the Bears team that compiled a 6–3–1 record and finished in second place in the NFL Western Division. On December 3, 1944, Turner was shifted into the backfield late in a game against Card-Pitt; he had a 48-yard run for the only rushing touchdown of his career. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the AP, UP, INS, and NYDN. In his first five seasons with the Bears, he appeared in 58 consecutive games, played all 60 minutes in eight of those games, and won three NFL championships.

In January 1945, Turner was inducted into the United States Army Air Forces and was assigned as a physical training instructor. In 1945, he played for the Second Air Force Superbombers football team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was granted furlough to play two games for the Bears and then returned to the Superbombers team where he finished the 1945 football season. At the end of the season, Turner was the leading pick on the All-Army Air Forces conference football team.

In March 1946, Turner rejected offers to play in the All-America Football Conference and signed a contract to return to the Bears. He appeared in all 11 games, and helped lead the 1946 Bears to another NFL championship. At the end of the season, Turner was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the AP, UP, and NYDN.

In 1947, Turner appeared in all 12 games for a Bears team that compiled an 8–4 record and finished in second place in the NFL Western Division. During the 1947 season, Turner intercepted a Sammy Baugh pass and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown, a moment that Turner later selected as the highlight of his career. At the end of the season, he was picked as a first-team All-Pro by the AP, NYDN, and PFI.

In 1948, Turner again appeared in all 12 games for the Bears team that compiled a 10–2 record and again finished in second place in the NFL Western Division. For the eighth and final time, Turner was selected as a first-team All-Pro center, receiving first-team honors from AP, UP, PFI, and The Sporting News.

Turner continued to play for the Bears for four more years, appearing in all 12 games each year from 1949 to 1952. In his final year, he played at the offensive tackle position. In 13 NFL seasons, Turner appeared in 138 regular season games and seven post-season games. He intercepted 17 passes in the regular season and four more in five NFL championship games. He was selected as a first-team All-Pro in eight of his 13 seasons.

Turner was big for his day (6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 237 lb (108 kg)); however, he was smart and very fast. Turner later boasted about his talent as a blocker: "I was such a good blocker, that the men they put in front of me – and some were stars who were supposed to be making a lot of tackles – they would have their coaches saying, 'why ain't you making any tackles?' they'd say, 'that bum Turner is holding.' Well that wasn't true. . . . I could handle anybody that they'd put in front of me." According to George Halas, Turner was "perhaps the smartest player" he had in 40 years as the Bears' coach, a player who "knew every assignment for every player on every player." Teammate George Musso once said of Turner, "Who knows what kind of player he would have been if he ever got to rest during a game?"

During the 1952 NFL season, Turner was both a player for the Bears and an assistant coach responsible for instructing the guards and centers.

In January 1953, after retiring as a player, Turner was hired as an assistant line coach at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He had a ranch in nearby Gatesville, and was responsible for coaching the offensive centers and defensive linebackers. He resigned his post at Baylor in February 1954.
Turner was an assistant coach for the Bears from 1954 to 1957. He worked from the press-box and communicated by telephone to George Halas about weaknesses he had observed in opponents' defenses. He gave up his job with the Bears in 1958 to devote his full efforts to his ranch in Texas.

In December 1961, Turner was hired as the head coach of the New York Titans of the American Football League. Despite a pre-season injury to All-AFL fullback Bill Mathis, whose 846 rushing yards was second best in the 1961 AFL season, the Titans opened the season with a 2–1 record. However, owner Harry Wismer was broke and unable to pay the players, who refused to practice and went on a two-day strike. Wismer threatened to put the entire team on waivers, and his erratic behavior, including hastily placing six starters on waivers after a loss and threatening to sue the Denver Broncos after quarterback Lee Grosscup was injured on a hard tackle, caused the Titans to be described as "the kookiest franchise in professional football." Even with financial assistance from other AFL clubs, the Titans' payroll deficiencies continued, and Turner had to expend energy just enticing his team to suit up. The team drew only 36,161 spectators to seven home games and finished with a 5–9 record. The team was sold in March 1963 and became the New York Jets. Turner was fired that same month.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

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 "Bulldog Turner is new Titans coach". Lawrence Journal World. Kansas. Associated Press. December 19, 1961. p. 14.

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 "Titans Really Something: Harry Wismer Mastermind of Kookiest Team in Pro Football". Sandusky Register. Newspaper Enterprise Association. October 31, 1962. p. 8B – via Newspapers.com.

 Goldstein, Richard (November 2, 1998). "Bulldog Turner, 79, a Star For Bears and Hall of Famer". New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.

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 "POST-ed". The Gatesville (TX) Messenger and Star-Forum. July 11, 1969. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.

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 "Mrs. Gladys W. Turner". The Gatesville Messenger. November 3, 1988. p. 10C – via Newspapers.com.

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 "POST-ed". The Gatesville (TX) Messenger and Star-Forum. March 4, 1966. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.

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The Story And Significance Of Shorty Ray - The Man Who Rewrote The NFL Rules Book

Hugh Light "Shorty" Ray was an American football player and official. He was the first technical advisor on the rules and supervisor of officials for the National Football League from 1938 to 1952. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

After graduating from the University of Illinois, Ray served as the athletic director at the Smith Academy in St. Louis from 1907 to 1908. In 1909, he was hired as a mechanical drawing instructor at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. He continued teaching mechanical drawing in Chicago high schools for more than 30 years.

In addition to his work as a teacher, Ray worked as a football official in Big Ten Conference games in the 1920s and 1930s. He also officiated in basketball and baseball games.

Ray helped organize the Athletic Officials Association (AOA) and organized rules clinics and written tests that were mandatory for members of the AOA. He was also the author of the high school football code and invented and copyrighted the "Play Situation Book" now called the "Case Book" The "Play Situations Book" taught the Officials, Coaches, and Players the rules through example and standardized their implementation. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, "many experts concede that Shorty did much to save the game during the dark days [in the 1920s] when football was under a cloud of mounting injuries, outmoded rules, haphazard officiating and draggy contests."

George Halas persuaded the NFL to hire Ray in 1938 to rewrite its rules book and train its officials. In 1947, Ray was given a five-year contract as Technical Advisor on the Rules and Supervisor of Officials to the NFL and resigned from the Chicago public schools to devote his full efforts to his job with the NFL. He served as a technical adviser to the NFL and supervisor of officials until his retirement in 1952. Ray has been credited with making the forward pass "an effective weapon by redesigning the ball." Ray also sought to increase the speed of play. He said, "The faster you play, the more plays you create." He directed officials to be prompt in recovering the ball and getting it into play again and insisted that the 30 seconds allowed to put the ball in play be strictly enforced. With Ray's emphasis on faster play, the average number of plays per touchdown decreased from 48 in 1938 to 24 in 1945.

Ray was also responsible for numerous rules changes, including the following rules. He changed the rules so that an incomplete pass was not a loss to the passing team. He developed the rule that the clock stops from the moment an incomplete pass hits the ground until play resumes.

Ray's biography at the Pro Football Hall of Fame calls him pro football's "unknown hero" who "helped save an often-unexciting game from extinction." According to that biography, "Shorty insisted his officials became absolute masters of the rules book. He gave them written tests and demanded that they score better than 95 percent every time. George Halas said in 1949 that his role in hiring Ray was "my greatest contribution to the National Football League," and later said of Ray: "He was the smartest man in rules ever. He was a genius."

In his later years, however, Ray was criticized for becoming overly technical, "inundating his officials with memoranda," urging them to speed up play, call all fouls, and stop the clock. Under his guidance to speed up play, the NFL played a record 10,451 plays during the 1947 NFL season. However, penalties also increased to an average of 13 per game in 1951. Frustrated with the growing rate of penalties, a group of owners sought to have Ray fired, but loyalists including George Halas defended Ray.

Ray resigned as the NFL's technical adviser in May 1952; he said at the time that he no longer felt he could physically do the job.

Ray was married to Charlotte Johnson (sometimes known as "Lottie") in October 1908. They had four children: Charlotte (born 1912), Hugh Jr. (born 1913), Edith Virginia (born 1918), and Mary Jane (born 1921).

Ray moved to Los Angeles after retiring from his position with the NFL. He died at a sanitarium there in September 1956 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage at age 72. He was buried in Chicago.

In March 1966, Ray was posthumously elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its fourth class of inductees. At the induction ceremony in September 1966, Ray's son, Hugh L. Ray Jr., accepted the honor on his father's behalf. Ray and Art McNally, who served as head of officiating from 1968 to 1991 and was enshrined in 2022, are the only Hall inductees to be enshrined for work related to officiating.

In 2014, Ray's grandson, James W. Stangeland, published a biography of Ray. and American football history titled, "Hugh L. Ray, The NFL's Mr. Einstein: Master Designer Of The Modern Game." Stangeland wrote the book "to set the record straight about Hugh L. Ray's true role in American football history."

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

 The Semi-Centennial Alumni Record of the University of Illinois. University of Illinois. 1918. p. 593.

 Jimmy Jordan (September 9, 1945). "Hugh Ray and his Stopwatch Have Done Much for Football: Small and Modest Rules Expert Is Known as the Game's Foremost Trouble Shooter". Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil. p. 17.

 "Hugh Ray Bio". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 1, 2016.

 Harry Grayson (August 8, 1940). "Pros Hire High School Football Coach: Ray Gets Contract To Speed Up Grid Games; Illinois Quarterback in 1905 Given Five Year Contract With National League". Wilkes Barre, Pa., Times Leader. p. 18.

 George S. Halas (February 11, 1967). "Rules, Game Sophisticated, a 'Lucky' Halas Looks Ahead". Chicago Tribune. p. 2-1.

 "Hugh Ray, Big 10 Official, Hurt As Auto Skids". Chicago Daily Tribune. August 31, 1936. p. 18.

 Ralph Trost (December 27, 1941). "So They Tell Me". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 9.

 Seymour Smith (September 14, 1966). "Pro Football To Honor Ray: Rules Advisor's Ideas Gave Game Needed Boost". The Sun (Baltimore). p. C4.

 "Officials, Not Rams, Beat Us Sunday: Halas". Chicago Tribune. November 3, 1949. pp. 2–3.

 Pat Livingston (October 28, 1971). "Official Upstaging Stars". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 41.

 "Shorty Ray Quits As NFL Adviser". The Arizona Republic. May 24, 1952. p. 20.

 "'Shorty' Ray, Ex-NFL Adviser, Succumbs at 72". Los Angeles Times. September 18, 1956. p. II-2.

 "Hugh L. Ray, Gridiron Code Pioneer, Dies". Chicago Tribune. September 18, 1956.

 Art Daley (March 23, 1966). "Arnie Herber Named to Pro Grid Fame Hall; Kiesling and McAfee Also Among Picks". Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. 39.

 James W. Stangeland. "Hugh Ray Football.com". Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2016.

 James W. Stangeland. "Hugh L. Ray, THE NFL'S Mr. Einstein: Master Designer Of The Modern Game". Createspace.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.

The Story And Significance Of Steve Owen - Won NFL Titles As A Player And Coach For The New York Giants

Stephen Joseph Owen was an American football player and coach. He earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as head coach of the National Football League's New York Giants for 24 seasons, from 1930 to 1953.

Owen's skill at designing defenses, his fundamentals-centered approach to the game and his innovative "A formation," a variation on the single-wing, also helped his offenses thrive and were key to his success. His personal style was memorable for the odd congruence of gravelly voice and easy disposition to go with his perpetual tobacco chewing.

Owen served in the U.S. Army training corps in World War I, then returned to coach for a year at Phillips before going to work in oil fields in various parts of the Southwest. He started to play pro football in 1924, at $50 a game, for the NFL's Kansas City Cowboys (who played all their games on the road!). After playing for the Cowboys and then the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1925, he was sold to the New York Giants in 1926 for $500, joining his brother Bill. After a futile attempt to get a cut of the purchase price from Kansas City coach Leroy Andrews, he later said of the sale. I had seen a lot of fat hogs go for more than they paid for me. But in those days, a fat hog was a lot more valuable than a fat tackle. I was going to New York even if I had to walk there.

His leadership became clearly evident during the 1927 season as captain of a team that outscored opponents 197–20, went 11–1–1 and won the NFL title.

In 1930, he was promoted to co-player-coach for the final two games of the season with another future Hall of Famer, Benny Friedman. The 2–0 finish was a premonition of Owen's future long-term success as sole head coach starting the following season. In an unusual move for the time, he didn't sign a formal contract with owner Tim Mara. He would coach the next 23 years on a handshake. He retired as a player following the 1931 season, except for a brief comeback in 1933, helping the Giants go 11–3 and get to the title game, the first of eight appearances the Giants would make during his tenure.

The team slipped to 8–5 in 1934, but still made the NFL championship game again. Facing the 13–0 Chicago Bears, the Giants came in as huge underdogs and trailed 10–3 at halftime. The icy conditions and 9 °F (5.0 °C) weather led to an adjustment between halves that became a memorable part of National Football League lore. A friend of the Maras owned a nearby shoe warehouse, and opened it on that freezing Sunday afternoon to supply the entire team with new sneakers for better footing on the frozen turf than they had had with conventional cleats, enabling them to run off 27 unanswered points in the second half for a 30–13 win and the team's first title. More than seven decades later, the contest is still remembered as "the sneakers game."

Despite the institution of the NFL draft due to the continued dominance of the Bears and Giants, the Giants returned to the championship game in 1935 and won their second and last title under Owen in 1938, 23-17 over the Green Bay Packers despite being outgained in yardage 379–208, with nine points on two blocked punts the margin of victory. New York appeared in four more season-ending NFL title clashes under Owen, but lost them all. An early World War II Three Stooges short referred to them when Moe sarcastically asked a hulking adversary, "Did you ever play footborl for da Giants?!"

In 1950, the Giants faced a powerful new foe with the arrival of the All-America Football Conference champion Cleveland Browns. The Browns consigned them to runner-up finishes in each of the next three seasons, though Owen's "umbrella defense" shut down passing attacks and made life miserable for the first-place Browns. New York won four of their six regular-season meetings but dropped a defensive playoff struggle with them after finishing tied with the Browns for the Eastern Division title at the end of the 1950 season.

Owen was the host of Pro Football Highlights on the DuMont Television Network from 1951 to 1953.
After the Giants slipped to 3–8 in 1953, Owen announced his retirement as head coach days before the end of the regular season, ending his 28 years at field level with the Giants. As the final minutes ticked away in his last game as Giant coach, a late-game loss to eventual champion Detroit, television cameras showed him standing alone on the sidelines in tears. His record as head coach was 150–99–17 (.596) and his 150 wins are still the most in franchise history.

Owen remained with the Giants as head scout. During the 1954 season, he served as a collegiate spring practice assistant, first at South Carolina and then at Baylor. He returned to the collegiate ranks full-time in 1955 as an assistant coach at Baylor.

Just weeks after the end of the 1955 season, the Philadelphia Eagles hired Hugh Devore as head coach and added Owen as his assistant soon after. But two seasons of struggling in Philadelphia led to the entire coaching staff's dismissal, and Owen eventually became a head coach yet again, this time on an interim basis with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts on September 21, 1959.

The Argonauts declined Owen's offer to stay on as full-time head coach for 1960, but retained him as a scout and advisor before he moved to the CFL's Calgary Stampeders on August 23, 1960 as interim head coach, but as in Toronto Owen was replaced at the end of the season. On December 29 of the same year, he was named head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a CFL team that had won just once in 1960. Owen's 1961 team nearly reached the playoffs, then did so the following year and was voted CFL Coach of the Year. But after suffering a heart attack late in 1962, he resigned on January 6, 1963.

Unable to stay away from the sport, however, he soon came back as head coach of the United Football League's Syracuse Stormers on March 20, 1963. After an 0–12 season, Owen returned to the New York Giants that November to scout for them.

Owen was stricken with a terminal cerebral hemorrhage in May 1964. After eight days in critical care, Owens died at age 66 on May 17 in Oneida, New York. He was buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Oneida.

Owen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of its fourth class in 1966, enshrined on September 17.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

 "Stout Steve Owen, former Giants' coaching great, dies". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Florida. Associated Press. May 18, 1964. p. 12.

 "Steve Owen quits grid Giants". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 11, 1953. p. 26.

 "Hall of fame to induct 8 grid pros". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. September 15, 1966. p. 40.

 Gottehrer. pg. 42–3

 New York Giants (1925–Present)

 "Steve Owen resigns as coach of New York Giant gridders". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. United Press. December 11, 1953. p. 2B.

 "Steve Owen to help coach Baylor gridders". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). United Press. July 18, 1955. p. 13.

 "Stout Steve Owen Baylor hired to cure Baylor foldups". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 18, 1955. p. 1, sports.

 "Steve Owen to join Eagles". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. January 15, 1956. p. 12A.

 "Owen top Canadian pro coach". Prescott Evening Courier. (Arizona). UPI. November 30, 1962. p. 8.

 "Hall of Famers by Year of Enshrinement". Pro Football Hall of Fame. National Football League. Retrieved February 4, 2013.

Gottehrer, Barry. The Giants of New York, the history of professional football's most fabulous dynasty. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1963 OCLC 1356301

The Story And Significance Of George McAfee - NFL Record Holder For Punt Return Average

George Anderson McAfee was a professional American football player. He played as a back for the Chicago Bears from 1940 to 1941 and 1945 to 1950. As an undergraduate at Duke University, McAfee starred in baseball and track and field as well as college football. McAfee was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He still holds the NFL record for punt return average in a career.

McAfee was the second overall pick in the 1940 NFL draft. Nicknamed "One-Play McAfee", he was known for explosive speed; he ran a 100-yard dash in 9.7 seconds. In his first professional game, McAfee returned a punt for a 75 yard touchdown with 30 seconds to play to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers. Later in his rookie season, he ran back a kickoff for 93 yards and threw a touchdown pass to help the Bears win over their rival, the Green Bay Packers. In the final game of the season, the 1940 NFL championship game, McAfee returned an interception for a 34-yard touchdown during the 73–0 victory over the Washington Redskins.

His second year in the League, 1941, was a banner year for McAfee: he led the league with a 7.3 rushing yards per carry while scoring a league-high 12 touchdowns in an 11-game season. While his rushing yardage totals seem modest by today's standards, he had to share the backfield with other outstanding running backs, such as Hugh Gallarneau, Norm Standlee, and Bill Osmanski, as well as Hall of Fame quarterback Sid Luckman. Known for his versatility, in 1941 his 12-touchdown total consisted of six by rushing, three receiving, one by punt return, one by kickoff return, and one by interception return, all while helping the Chicago Bears to their second straight NFL league championship over the New York Giants. That season, his 31.6 yards per punt return also set a franchise record that still stands.

Following his All-pro 1941 season, McAfee entered the Navy in World War II, returning for three games each in 1945 and 1946. He played four more seasons in the NFL, becoming more of a return specialist, especially after a disastrous 11-fumble season in 1948. In 1948 and 1950 he led the NFL in punt returns (30 for a league-leading 417 yards in 1948, 33 in 1950). In his final professional game, a division-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, McAfee had six punt returns for 79 yards, setting the Bears' playoff franchise record for most returns in a game, and most yards and yards per return in a game, single post-season, and post-season career (a total of seven franchise records).

McAfee volunteered to join the United States Navy after the U.S. entered World War II. He served between 1942 and 1945.

McAfee returned to Chicago in 1945 after missing almost 4 complete seasons during what would likely have been the prime of his pro career. In his first game back, late in 1945, McAfee carried the ball five times for 105 yards and three touchdowns.

McAfee played for Chicago until 1950. While McAfee was not again voted to the All Pro team, he continued to excel on both offense and defense for the Bears.

During his time playing pro football, McAfee scored 234 points, gained 5,313 combined net yards, intercepted 25 passes in eight seasons, and was the NFL punt return champion. As of 2018, he remains the all time NFL record holder for average punt return in a career at 12.78 yards.

McAfee’s coach at Duke, Wallace Wade, called him “a one-man offense, and practically unstoppable.” Red Grange, a star of earlier Bears teams, called McAfee "the most dangerous man with the football in the game." Green Bay Coach Earl "Curly" Lambeau called McAfee "the most talented back the Packers ever faced." John F. Kieran, the sports columnist for The New York Times, wrote in 1940: “the debate around Chicago has been as to whether McAfee is just as good as Jim Thorpe ever was, or better.” George Halas, the Bears’ longtime owner and coach, once said, “the highest compliment you can pay any ball carrier is just compare him with McAfee.”

McAfee himself described his running strategy differently. At 6’, 178 pounds, he was small even for his era. During his initial training camp with the Bears, he was impressed by the size of the so-called Monsters of the Midway. "I never saw so many big men in my life," McAfee said at the time. "I remember clearly, on one of the first scrimmage plays, that a rookie halfback was knocked cold trying to bring down Bill Osmanski. That play served as a valuable lesson for me. Whenever I ran with the ball, I had that picture in my mind of [him] there on the ground, cold as a stone. I would run as fast as I could if there was any daylight."

During his college football career, McAfee was named first-team All-American, helped the Duke Blue Devils to two Southern Conference championships, and was a member of the Iron Dukes, which narrowly lost the 1939 Rose Bowl to Southern Cal.

While starring as running back, defensive back, kicker, punter, and kick returner for the mighty Chicago Bears of the 1940s, McAfee was named All Pro, set the all-time career punt return mark, and contributed to the Bears' NFL championships in 1940, 1941, and 1946.

McAfee's jersey #5 was retired by Chicago in 1955. He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1961, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1967, and the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, where he was a charter member. McAfee was also named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team and the All-Time Two Way Team.

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 "Hall of Famer George McAfee Passes Away". National Football Foundation. March 5, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2016.

 "1940 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 30, 2023.

 "Divisional Round - Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams - December 17th, 1950". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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 "Taking a Look in the Bears History Book: George McAfee". July 23, 2010.

 Markus, Robert (October 18, 1965). "Halas Rates Kansas Star with Greats". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3. Retrieved February 19, 2017.

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 Thompson, A.C. (August 1, 2013). "The Deaths and Disappearance that Haunt Assisted Living". Frontline. CBS. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

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The Story And Significance Of Walt Kiesling - Four Consecutive Years Voted As An All-Pro At Offensive Guard

Walter Andrew Kiesling was an American football guard and tackle who spent 36 years as a player, coach, and aide with National Football League teams. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and was named to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team in 1969.

A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Kiesling played college football at the University of St. Thomas where he was selected as an all-state player in 1923, 1924, and 1925. He then played 13 years as a guard and tackle in the NFL with the Duluth Eskimos (1926–1927), Pottsville Maroons (1928), Chicago Cardinals (1929–1933), Chicago Bears (1934), Green Bay Packers (1935–1936), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1937–1938). He was a first-team All-Pro in 1929, 1930, and 1932, a second-team All-Pro in 1931, and played for the Packers' 1936 NFL championship team.

Kiesling also spent 25 years as a coach or aide for NFL teams, including seven years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates/Steelers from 1939 to 1942 and 1954 to 1956. He led the Steelers to their first winning season in 1942. He also served as co-coach of the wartime merger teams known as the Steagles in 1943 and Card-Pitt in 1944 and as line coach for the Pirates (1937–1938), Green Bay Packers (1945–1948), and Steelers (1949–1953). He retired from active coaching for health reasons in 1957 but remained an aide to the Steelers coaching staff from 1957 to 1961.

In the fall of 1926, Kiesling joined the Duluth Eskimos of the National Football League, appearing in 11 games as a tackle for a team that featured star backs Ernie Nevers and Johnny Blood. He remained in Duluth for the 1927 season, moving to the guard position and appearing in six games.

Kiesling joined the Pottsville Maroons for the 1927 season, starting 10 games at right guard.

Kiesling next joined the Chicago Cardinals where he played at the left guard position from 1929 to 1933. During his prime years with the Cardinals, he was recognized as one of the leading linemen in the NFL.

In 1929, he started 12 games at left guard and was selected as a first-team All-Pro by Collyer's Eye magazine.

In 1930, he appeared in 11 games, nine as a starter, and was selected as a first-team All-Pro in 1930 by both Collyer's Eye and the Green Bay Press-Gazette, based on the returns of ballots sent to the league's coaches, club officials, sports writers and officials.

In 1931, he started nine games at left guards and was selected as a second-team All-Pro by the United Press, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, and Collyer's Eye.

In 1932, he started 10 games at left guard and was selected as a first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press.

Kiesling was the Cardinals' heaviest player, ranging from 235 to 260 pounds at six feet, three inches. He was reputed to be "excellent on defense and unusually shifty on offense." He was also known as "a smart guard, a sure tackler despite his bulk and adept at rushing a passer."

During his NFL career, Kiesling lived in Saint Paul in the off-season, operating a cafe and playing as a pitcher and outfielder for a semi-pro baseball team. He also played league baseball in Montana and Canada.

In August 1934, George Halas signed Kiesling to a one-year contract with the Chicago Bears. Kiesling appeared in 13 games for the Bears, only five as a starter.

In August 1935, Kiesling signed with the Green Bay Packers. At the time of his signing, the Green Bay Press-Gazette wrote "Kiesling is one of the most experienced players in the pro grid game. Practically no one gains through his side of the line consistently ... Kiesling never dissipates, and trains in the year around, remaining always in top condition".

Kiesling appeared in 10 games for the Packers in 1935. He also appeared in eight games for the 1936 Green Bay Packers team that won the NFL championship.

Kiesling began his coaching career at age 34 during the 1937 season as an assistant coach under Johnny Blood for the Pittsburgh Pirates (renamed the Steelers in 1940). He was also a player for the Pirates during the 1937 and 1938 seasons, appearing in a total of 12 games. When Blood resigned as head coach after the team lost the first three games of the 1939 season, team owner Art Rooney hired Kiesling as the team's new head coach. Kiesling led the Pirates to a 1–6–1 record in the final eight games of the 1939 season.

Kiesling led the Steelers to a 2–7–2 record during the 1940 season and was replaced by Bert Bell and Aldo Donelli in 1941. Kiesling resumed his role as head coach near the end of the 1941 season, leading the team to a 1–2–1 in the final four games.

Kiesling led the 1942 Steelers to a 7–4 record, the first winning season in club history since the team was formed in 1933. Kiesling's 1942 team was led on the field by rookie halfback Bill Dudley who totaled 1,138 yards of total offense (696 rushing and 438 passing) and also had 576 yards on punt and kickoff returns. Dudley was drafted into Army after the 1942 season.

In 1943, with so many players lost to military service, the Steelers were temporarily merged with the Philadelphia Eagles to form the Steagles. Kiesling and the Eagles' coach Greasy Neale served as co-coaches of the Steagles. The Steagles compiled a 5–4–1 record.

In 1944, the Steelers were still lacking players due to the war and formed a one-year merger with the Chicago Cardinals, operating under the name Card-Pitt. Kiesling and the Cardinals' coach Phil Handler served as co-coaches. Despite the play of John Grigas, a Cardinals back who led the NFL in 1944 with 1,154 all-purpose yards and 471 kickoff return yards, the Card-Pitt team gave up 32.8 points per game, compiled a 0–10 record, and was outscored by a combined total of 328–108.

In January 1945, Kiesling resigned as the Steelers' coach. Hours after resigning his position with the Steelers, Kiesling was hired as assistant coach for the Green Bay Packers. He coached the Packers' linemen, and in December 1945, he signed a contract extending his service through the 1947 season. In January 1948, his contract was renewed again through the 1948 season. At the time, Curly Lambeau called Kiesling the top line coach in college or professional football.

Kiesling contracted pneumonia in the winter of 1947 and lost 51 pounds while battling the illness. In February 1949, Kiesling was released by the Packers, with Lambeau advising Kiesling "in the interests of his health to take a year's vacation from football."

Ignoring Lambeau's advice, Kiesling returned to the Steelers in March 1949 as the line coach. He signed a contract extension with the Steelers in March 1950, and remained as line coach through the 1953 season.

In March 1952, Kiesling was hospitalized with what was described as a "heavy cold". In November 1953 he was hospitalized again with pneumonia. Starting with his 1947 bout with pneumonia, Kiesling was plagued with respiratory ailments for the rest of his life.

In late August 1954, Joe Bach resigned as the Steelers' head coach after a poor showing by the team in exhibition games, and Kiesling was promoted to head coach. In his third stint as head coach, Kiesling led the Steelers to records of 5–7 in 1954, 4–8 in 1955, and 5–7 in 1956.

Kiesling is often remembered as the coach who released Johnny Unitas, a player widely acclaimed as one of the greatest in NFL history. The Steelers had selected Unitas, a Pittsburgh native, in the ninth round of the 1955 NFL Draft. Kiesling was satisfied with Jim Finks and Ted Marchibroda as his quarterbacks and was unimpressed by the gangly Unitas. He did not allow Unitas to even play in any exhibition games, and after pre-season camp, Kiesling told Rooney: "Unitas is too dumb. He can't remember plays."

Kiesling's health was declining by the mid-1950s. Steelers' owner Art Rooney considered firing him, but concluded that loyalty outweighed winning. Rooney reportedly said, "Walt will be my head coach as long as he wants to be, and even if he doesn't want to be." Kiesling's health was poor during the 1956 season, yet he returned for the pre-season in 1957, finally retiring in late August 1957. He remained an aide to the Steelers' coaching staff until his death.

Kiesling's overall record as an NFL head coach was 30–55–5.

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