Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Jimmy Conzelman

James Gleason Conzelman


Born:
March 6, 1898
St. Louis, MO

Died:
July 31, 1970
St. Louis, MO


Career
1918-19 Washington University - Missouri (College)
1926-27 Detroit Pulaski Post (ABL)

Conzelman was a long time football player in the NFL who would later become a coach. He played minor league baseball for a bit as well as playing basketball for the Detroit entry in the ABL.

After graduating from Washington University in St Louis, he entered the U.S. Navy and was stationed at Great Lakes. One of his teammates at Great Lakes was George Halas, who got Jimmy to play on his football team in Decatur. This team, in the inaugural season of the NFL, would become the Chicago Bears. He left the Beras to join Rock Island, and in 1925 he was offered an NFL franchise in Detroit for $100. It was during the 1926 NFL season that Conzelman played basketball with the Detroit Pulaski Post Lion, which only last six games before leaving the ABL. He would play football for a few more years before a knee injury hastened his retirement, but stayed on as a coach before getting a job in the front office of baseball's St. Louis Browns. He returned to the NFL in 1946 to coach the Chicago Cardinals a second time, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964.

NFL Stats
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/ConzJi20.htm

Minor League Baseball Stats
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=conzel001jim

Source:
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Stats:
http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/jimmy-conzelman/

1 comment:

  1. Conzelman coached the Chicago Cardinals to two NFL championship games, winning the title against the Eagles in 1947 and losing the rematch in blizzard-like conditions in Philadelphia in 1948.

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