Gus Sonnenberg

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Gus Sonnenberg
Position (s):
Tackle 		Jersey numbers:
20, 23
born on March 6, 1898 in Ewen , Michigan , USA
died on September 9, 1944 in Bethesda , Maryland
Career information
Active : 1923 - 1930
College : Dartmouth College , University of Detroit
Teams
Career statistics
Games (NFL)     61
as a starter     56
Touchdown     1
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Career highlights and awards

Gustave Adolph Sonnenberg (* 6. March 1898 in Ewen , Michigan , USA ; † 9. September 1944 in Bethesda , Maryland ), nicknamed : Dynamite , Iron Duke or The Goat was an American Football poker players and wrestlers . He played as a tackle in the National Football League (NFL), including the Providence Steam Roller .

youth

Gus Sonnenberg was born in Ewen as the son of the German / Swedish couple Fred and Caroline Sonnenberg. He grew up on a farm and first attended a small country school before he moved to Marquette with an older sister and attended the local high school from 1912 . At the High Scholl, he also played American football, initially in the position of a guard before he was retrained as a tackle in 1914. In 1915, his team won the high school championship undefeated. In addition to American football, he also played basketball at the school and won championship honors with his team.

Sports career

College career

In 1916, Sonnenberg received various scholarships and decided to accept the offer from Dartmouth College . Sonnenberg managed to join the college football team and in the same year he was elected to the college league's selection team . Sonnenberg dropped out after a year and returned to Marquette. There he played basketball on a teachers' team and coached two high school football teams. In 1919 he continued his studies at Dartmouth College and moved to the University of Detroit in 1921 , where he graduated from law school in 1922 . At both colleges he again played successfully American football.

Wildcat Wilson

Professional career

In 1923 the Green Bay Packers made him a contract offer, but he joined the Columbus Tigers , which he left in the same year to play a game with the Buffalo All-Americans . In 1924, Sonnenberg signed with the Pottsville Maroons , which were in the Anthracite League, a league that competed with the NFL. Sonnenberg won the championship with his team. In 1925 and 1926 he returned to the NFL and hired the Detroit Panthers , who had to cease playing in 1926. In 1927, Sonnenberg and his Detroit head coach Jimmy Conzelman moved to the Providence Steam Roller . The team was able to sign Wildcat Wilson in the same year , who was considered one of the best running backs of the time. The Providence team won the NFL championship in 1928 . The Sonnenberg team had won eight out of eleven games and lost only one game.

Like many football players, Gus Sonnenberg saw the opportunity to secure a lucrative income opportunity with professional wrestling. On January 24, 1928, he made his victorious debut in a fight against Ivan Ludlow . In a tough title fight, he lost the title fight against Ed Lewis on June 30, 1928 , but he was able to defeat in the replay on January 4, 1929. Sonnenberg played another game for the Steam Roller in 1929, but continued his financially more lucrative wrestling career. His first title fight in the National Wrestling Association earned him a salary of $ 7,500 . On December 10, 1930, he lost his title, conferred by the American Wrestling Association , to Ed Don George in Los Angeles . On March 16, 1939, Sonnenberg was able to win his second championship title. He defeated Marvin Westerberg , but had to give up the title on March 29, 1939 after a loss to Steve Casey .

After the career

Sonnenberg remained a professional wrestler until 1942 when he joined the US Navy . He died of leukemia in a Bethesda hospital and is buried in Park Cemetery in Marquette.

Honors

Gus Sonnenberg was voted All Pro five times as a football player . He is a member of the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Origin / descent from Gus Sonnenberg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.2 MB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.swedishcouncil.org  
  2. ↑ History of the League
  3. ^ History of the Pottsville Maroons ( Memento from October 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Statistics of the Steam Roller 1928
  5. ^ Grave site of Gus Sonnenberg in the Find a Grave database
personal data
SURNAME Sonnenberg, Gus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sonnenberg, Gustave Adolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football player and wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Ewen , Michigan , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1944
Place of death Bethesda , Maryland , USA