Jim Crowley

Jim Crowley
Position (s): left halfback	Jersey Number (s): 18 (College)
born on September 10, 1902 in Chicago , Illinois
died on January 15, 1986 in Scranton , Pennsylvania
Career information
Active : 1925
College : Notre Dame
Teams
Waterbury / Hartford Blues (1925) Green Bay Packers (1925) Providence Steam Roller (1925)
Career statistics
Games in the NFL	3
Touchdown at college	18th
of it through running game	15th
Career highlights and awards
College Football Hall of Fame (1966) College Football Championship (1924)
College Football Hall of Fame

James Harold "Jim" Crowley (* 10. September 1902 in Chicago , Illinois ; † 15. January 1986 in Scranton , Pennsylvania ) Nickname : Sleepy Jim , was an American American Football- players, trainers and -Funktionär. He played at college as a halfback with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and in the National Football League (NFL), including the Providence Steam Roller .

origin

Curly Lambeau

Jim Crowley was born in Chicago but grew up in Green Bay , Wisconsin . He came from a humble background and attended high school in Green Bay , where he also played American football . Crowley played, as was common at the time, both in the offense and in the defense of the team, where he stood out in particular as a halfback . The team was coached by former University of Notre Dame graduate Curly Lambeau , who recommended Crowley to his former college coach , Knute Rockne . Crowley graduated from high school in 1921.

Player career

College career

Because of his financial situation, Jim Crowley would not have been able to study. Scholarships were unknown at the University of Notre Dame. Rockne was determined to secure the services of Crowley. Jim Crowley was therefore employed part-time by the college and received free board and lodging on campus as well as a waiver of tuition fees. He received a place at the University of Notre Dame in 1921 and played from 1922 to 1924 for their football team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Rockne built around Crowley and his three teammates - fullback Elmer Layden , quarterback Harry Stuhldreher and halfback Don Miller - one of the best college football teams of the time. Crowley was used in the offense as the left halfback of the team, his teammate Miller played on the right attacking side. As fullback, Layden had the task of blocking their way into the opposing end zone. Stuhldreher, in turn, took on tasks as a blocker and took over the design of the game, where he also used the pass throw as a means of attack as a quarterback.

Crowley and his three teammates in the offensive backfield of Notre Dame Fighting Irish achieved national fame due to their playful achievements. In 1924, the American sports reporter Grantland Rice reported nationwide on a game of the Fighting Irish and gave the four players the nickname: The Four Horsemen because of their style of play . In a photo made afterwards, the four players were shown as riders. Both the article and the photo went down in American press and sports history.

In 1924, the Fighting Irish remained unbeaten in the regular season and could win all of their 10 games. On January 1, 1925, the team also won the Rose Bowl against Stanford University in front of 53,000 spectators with 27:10. As a kicker, Jim Crowley contributed a total of three points to the victory of his team. The Crowley team was named national college football champions by the American press . The Four Horseman and two other players on the 1924 team were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame .

On December 12, 1925, after completing their studies, the Four Horsemen played with other former players again for the Fighting Irish. They ran against the Pottsville Maroons , a professional NFL team who had finished the season as runners-up. With this game, the Four Horsemen (unintentionally) went down in sports history again. The Maroons won just under 9-7 and were subsequently suspended by the NFL. Hosting the game in Philadelphia had violated another team's territorial rights, which was prohibited by the NFL statutes. The effects of this game are still controversial in the American sports world today.

Jim Crowley and his team won 27 of 30 games during his studies, with two losses and one draw. He himself scored 18 touchdowns and gained 1841 yards by running game. Crowley owes his nickname to his eyes, which left a "sleepy" impression. However, his tricky running style contradicted this impression.

In 1931, the story of the Fighting Irish was portrayed in the Hollywood film The Spirit of Notre Dame . The main actor in the film was Lew Ayres . Jim Crowley played himself in the film.

Professional career

The professional career of Jim Crowley was short, like the professional careers of Stuhldreher, Layden and Miller. Professional football was not very lucrative at the time. The clubs suffered notoriously from lack of money and the players could not live on their professional salaries alone. Jim Crowley played three games in the NFL after graduating in 1925. He played two games for the team of his former high school coach Curly Lambeau, the Green Bay Packers and one game he played for the Providence Steam Roller . Due to an offer from the University of Georgia to work there as an assistant coach , he left the NFL, but played at the same time as his coaching position with the Waterbury / Hartford Blues , which were not yet part of the NFL this year and where his former teammate Harry Stuhldreher was under contract. Don Miller and Elmer Layden also played for the Blues at times. After just a year, Jim Crowley ended his career as a professional player.

Coaching career

College coach

Jim Crowley was an assistant coach at the University of Georgia until 1928 , before taking the post of head coach at Michigan State University . In 1933, Crowley moved to Fordham University in the same function . In 1936 and 1937, Crowley built a line of defense around Vince Lombardi that would go down in football history as the Seven Blocks of Granite . With the team from New York Crowley could move into two bowl games . While the Cotton Classic Bowl was lost in 1941, his team was able to win the Sugar Bowl in 1942 2-0 against the University of Missouri . After that game, Crowley ended his career as a college coach. His two teams won 78 games and lost 21. Ten games ended in a draw.

Professional coach / football official

Jim Crowley served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant Commander in the Pacific during World War II . After the war, Crowley became the first executive director of the newly formed All-America Football Conference , a competitive league of the NFL. After the league's first season in 1946, he acquired shares in the Chicago Rockets and was also coach of the team. At the same time he resigned from the position of manager of the league. The Rockets had a bad season in 1947. They only won one of their 14 games. Crowley then gave his shares in the Rockets and resigned from his position as coach of the team.

After the football career

Jim Crowley became an insurance salesman after his football career. From 1953 he was manager of a television company in Scranton . In 1963 he became chairman of the Pennsylvania Sports Commission. Crowley died in Scranton in 1986 in a retirement home. He is buried in Saint Catherine's Cemetery in Moscow , Pennsylvania.

Honors

Jim Crowley was elected All American in 1924 . In 1962 he was elected to the All-Star Team at the University of Notre Dame by 400 American sports journalists . In 1966 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1998 the Four Horsemen were honored on a postage stamp by the US Post.

source

• Jim Lefebvre, Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions , 2008, ISBN 978-0-9818841-0-3
• John Maxymuk, NFL Head Coaches: A Biographical Dictionary, 1920-2011 , McFarland, 2012, ISBN 978-0-7864655-7-6

Web links

• College statistics by Jim Crowley (PDF; 41 kB)
• NFL year in review 1925
• The "Four Horsemen" at college
• Player profile of Jim Crowley at the University of Notre Dame
• Obituary by Jim Crowley
• Biography of Jim Crowley ( memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
• Jim Crowley in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Image of the "Four Horsemen" ( memento of the original from March 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Game statistics Rose Bowl 1925 ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ History of the Maroons
4. ↑ History of the Hartford Blues ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Jim Crowley as assistant to trainer George Woodruff  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ History of the Defense Series in the New York Times
7. ↑ Jim Crowley in Scranton - Newspaper Article
8. ↑ Jim Crowley's grave in Find a grave
9. ↑ Postage stamp with the "Four Horsemen"