Emlen Tunnell
| Emlen Tunnell | |
|---|---|
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Position (s): Defensive Back |
Jersey number (s): 45 |
| born March 29, 1925 in Bryn Mawr , Pennsylvania | |
| died on July 22, 1975 in Pleasantville , New York | |
| Career information | |
| Active : 1948 - 1961 | |
| Undrafted in 1948 | |
| College : Toledo , Iowa | |
| Teams | |
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Player career
Scout / assistant coach
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| Career statistics | |
| Interceptions | 79 |
| the resulting gain in space | 1,282 yards |
| Touchdowns | 4th |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
Emlen Lewis Tunnell (* 29. March 1925 in Bryn Mawr , Pennsylvania ; † 22. July 1975 in Pleasantville , NY ) was an American American football poker players. Among other things, he played defensive back with the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League (NFL).
College / Military Service
Tunnell first played at a high school football, then played at the University of Toledo and then joined the US Coast Guard because he was unable to join the military due to a neck injury he sustained in Toledo. The neck injury was very serious, his life was in danger, and after his recovery he was prophesied that he would never be able to play football again.
Tunnell was stationed in San Francisco and took part in World War II . On April 27, 1944, his ship, the USS Etamin , anchored off Papua New Guinea and was torpedoed by Japanese planes. The ship caught fire. Tunnell managed to pull one of the ship's machinists out of the burning engine room. Although the sailor was badly burned, the man survived the attack. Two years later, he saved a crew member of his ship from drowning.
After serving, he began studying at the University of Iowa . At that time, African American students were accepted there. Due to financial difficulties (in the summer he had played semi-professional baseball for this reason ) he dropped out of his studies in 1948. After learning that the New York Giants were looking for football players, he drove to New York to meet Wellington Mara , son of the Giants owner Tim Mara . Arriving in New York, he happened upon Tim Mara at the Giants office, who agreed to a trial training session. Two years earlier, the racial barriers had fallen in the NFL . Tunnell was able to convince in the trial training of the Giants, who were supervised by Steve Owen . They then signed him for a year with total earnings of $ 5,500 .
Professional time
Tunnell had never been drafted by a professional football team . Even so, Emlen the Gremlin would develop into one of the best defensive backs of all time. With a height of 185 cm and a weight of 84 kg, his physical conditions were ideal. The number of 79 interceptions he has made in his career is still number two in the NFL record books today. He was able to carry four of these missed throws back into the opposing end zone for touchdowns . He scored six touchdowns as a lightning- fast punt and kickoff return. In 1959 he moved to the Green Bay Packers for three years and ended his career in 1961. Tunnell played a total of 165 games this season .
Tunnell was a key player on the team during his time with the Giants. Together with Tom Landry, he was the main part of the so-called Umbrella Defense in which the linebackers are involved in the pass defense . The defense became very difficult to calculate for the opposing attack, the error rate increased, Tunnell was able to intercept the opposing quarterback's bad passes again and again . 1956 won the Giants with their legendary running back Frank Gifford and their quarterback Charlie Conerly the NFL championship against the Chicago Bears with 47: 7.
In 1959 he moved to the Green Bay Packers trained by Vince Lombardi . In 1960 he could not win the title with the Green Bay Packers against the Philadelphia Eagles , the Packers lost in the NFL final just 17:13. In the NFL final of the following year, he won his second championship title. The Giants had to admit defeat to the Packers 37-0 in the game. After this game, Emlen Tunnell ended his playing career.
Honors
Tunnell is a member of the NFL 1950s All-Decade Team , the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame , the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame . He was the first black player to be elected to the American Football Hall of Fame in 1967. Tunnell was voted eight times by the American press into the NFL All-Pro team and played nine times in the Pro Bowl , the final game of the best players of the season. The newspaper The Sporting News named him in 1999 as one of the top 100 football players of all time. The Giants honor him on the New York Giants Ring of Honor .
After the career
Tunnell worked as a scout after his career . From 1965 to 1973 he was assistant coach for the Giants . He died of heart failure and is buried in Gulph Christian Cemetery in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
Web links
- Record statistics from Emlen Tunnell
- Biography; Emlen Tunnell at the Giants article in the New York Times
- Emlen Tunnell in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Short biography
source
- Jens Plassmann: NFL - American Football. The game, the stars, the stories (= Rororo 9445 rororo Sport ). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-499-19445-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Annual statistics of the Giants 1956
- ↑ 1956 NFL endgame statistics
- ^ Annual statistics of the Packers 1960
- ^ NFL endgame statistics 1960
- ↑ Annual statistics of the Packers 1961
- ↑ 1961 NFL endgame statistics
- ↑ Emlen Tunnell at number 70 on the list ( Memento from January 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Emlen Tunnell's grave in the Find a Grave database
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tunnell, Emlen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tunnell, Emlen Lewis; Emlen the Gremlin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 29, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bryn Mawr , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 22, 1975 |
| Place of death | Pleasantville , NY |