Sports' Forgotten Heroes

The podcast delves into the remarkable career of Mel Hein, a legendary figure in NFL history known for his exceptional skills as both a center and a linebacker. Celebrated as one of the greatest centers of all time, Hein is the only offensive lineman to ever win the NFL MVP award, a testament to his extraordinary impact on the game. He played 15 years with the New York Giants, earning accolades such as being named to multiple All-Pro teams and being part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class. The discussion highlights Hein's athleticism, football IQ, and leadership qualities, which set him apart from his peers. Listeners will also learn about his unique journey, including how he transitioned from a player to a respected coach and official, leaving a lasting legacy in the sport.When you think of NFL MVP's, you think of guys like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, great quarterbacks, great running backs and, every once in a while, a great defensive player. But, an offensive lineman? They're never part of su

Chuck Foreman was one of the NFL's most feared fullback's of the 1970s. In fact, he might have been the best fullback in the game during those years. Drafted in the 1973 first round by the Minnesota Vikings out of the University of Miami, Foreman was told by Vikings Head Coach Bud Grant that he would be the focal point of the Minnesota offense, but the way they would use him, despite the fact that he would rack up big numbers, he wouldn't get the recognition he deserved. Grant was right. Over the course of Foreman's 8-year career, he he combined to rush for and catch passes for 9,106-yards. He scored 76 touchdowns, in 1973 he led the NFL in receptions with 73. He was the 1973 Offensive Rookie of the Year, First Team All-Pro in 1975, Pro Bowl in 1973, 74, 75, 76. Led the Vikings to three NFC Championships and played in three Super Bowls. yet, with all of those accolades, somehow, Foreman's accomplishments got lost in the shuffle. Somehow, his numbers did not impress the right people and despite the fact that h

In 1946, a new professional football league launched - The All America Football Conference (AAFC) and the strongest team created was the Cleveland Browns. It was filled with superstars and an eventual legend at coach - Paul Brown. In the backfield was another budding superstar, Marion Motley. Standing at 6-foot-1 and weighing 232-pounds was, by today's standards, not exactly HUGE. But, in 1946, 6-foot-1, 232-pounds was very intimidating. Motley steamrolled the opposition during his playing days and led the Browns to the AAFC's first-ever Championship. But he didn't stop there. In fact, Motley was a catalyst for the Browns who also won the AAFC i1947, '48 & '49. The Browns moved to the NFL in 1950, and again, they won the championship with Motley leading the charge out of the backfield. Cleveland also played for the NFL Championship in 1951, '52 & '53, and although they lost each of those championships, Motley still was a key ingredient in helping Cleveland reach those title games. His career was short

Fritz Pollard is not a name most football fans are familiar with. Yet, his place in NFL History is about as iconic as any. Pollard is the first African-American to coach and NFL team. To be fair, he was a co-head coach. In 1920, with the Akron Pros of the American Professional Football Association, the APFA, later to re-brand itself as the NFL, Pollard led the Pros to an 8-0-3 season and the APFA Championship. Art Shell, who many consider to be the first, certainly deserves his share of such recognition as well, only his historic standing is that of the first African-American Head Coach in modern NFL history. Pollard coached in a totally different time in American history. In fact, he coached before minorities such as African-Americans were "banned" from the game. Pollard was also a player. A dual role as player-coach, which wasn't totally unusual during that period of time. A terrific tailback, Pollard rushed for 16 touchdowns during his playing days and also caught two touchdown passes. The game was played

There was a time when  NFL  rosters were significantly smaller than they are today. Back in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, even into the 60s, teams did not carry as many players as they do today. Of course, less players means more playing time - and not just on one side of the line of scrimmage. In fact, most players played on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Not only that, several played on special teams as well. They were on the field for punt coverage, kickoff coverage, punt returns and kickoff returns. So many played every down of a game. Now, of course, they might not have done it every single game, but on occasion, they did. Regardless, if you played on both sides of the line of scrimmage, you were referred to as a 60-minute man. In episode 137, we discussed the career of Ace Parker. He played every down of every game on several occasions. Other players who are referred to as 60-minute men and whom I have done podcasts on include Dutch Clark (episode 89), Paddy Driscoll (episode 112), Ernie Nev

Ace Parker was a terrific multi-sport star - especially football and baseball. Baseball, though, was his first love and he tried to make it as a Major League Baseball player with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937 and 1938. However, as good as he was throughout his college career at Duke University and in the minor leagues, he just couldn't crack through only hitting .179 during his two seasons. However, football was another story. Parker was a stud, an eventual Hall of Famer. He played, quarterback, tailback, defensive back. He kicked. He punted. He returned kicks. He returned punts. He did it all. A true 60-minute man. In fact, he once led the NFL in passing and co-led in interceptions. Playing for the NFL's version of the Brooklyn Dodgers, however, was like playing in obscurity and the career of Ace Parker is not as well-known as some of his contemporaries. Ace played just five years in the NFL before serving in WWII and returning for one final season, his sixth, with the Dodgers (they had moved to Boston

In 1920, the Negro National League started play and the historic Kansas City Monarchs took the field for the first time. Leading the way was a 5-foot-7 two-way ballplayer who was about to embark on a journey that didn't end until 1938 - Bullet Joe Rogan. What no one knew then was that Rogan was going to put up numbers that ultimately led him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Rogan is considered by many to be one of the top 5 baseball players of all time. In fact, some say he is the greatest. On the mound, in the Negro National League he was 120-52 with an ERA of 2.65. But, when you combine the barnstorming tours and other leagues that Bullet played in, there is evidence that he won more than 350 games and struck out more than 2,000 batters. And, he did all of this without a windup. He just stood on the mound reared back and fired the ball. But, that's only half the story. Bullet was a star in the batter's box too. He hit cleanup for the Monarchs and for his NNL career, he hit .338 with an OPS of

The name "Wahoo Sam Crawford" might not sound familiar to many Major League Baseball fans. But, it's probably quite familiar to fans of the Detroit Tigers. Wahoo Sam played for the Tigers back in the early 1900s. He was a phenomenally good hitter. In fact, if not for Ty Cobb, one could argue that Wahoo Sam might be the greatest to ever play for the Tigers. He had a career batting average of .309 to go along with a career OPS of .814. He averaged 191 hits a year as well. Not known for blazing speed, perhaps the most surprising of all when it comes to Wahoo Sam is this - he holds the record for most triples in a Major League career with 309 ... and ... he also holds the record for most inside-the-park home runs in a year with 12! But, the fact that he played during the same period as Ty Cobb stifled Crawford's popularity. Along with Cobb, however, Wahoo Sam helped the Tigers to three straight American League pennants: 1907, 1908, 1909. Unfortunately, Detroit never came out on top of any of those World Series. A

Back in the early 1900s, the National League was the only game in town. It was Major League Baseball, thus the name the "Senior Circuit". In 1901, Ban Johnson, and others, joined the game with the American League and it was granted Major League status in 1903. Both leagues operated as separate entities, but met every year in the World Series. In 1913, the Federal League was a minor league, but it wanted to join the party and in 1914 and 1915 it called itself a Major League as well. The Federal League, however, did not gain widespread acceptance. Despite going to head-to-head in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Brooklyn and St. Louis with established NL and AL teams, it couldn't gain a foothold. It also played in Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Baltimore, it struggled in those cities as well. Poor attendance and high salaries for the players it poached from its NL and AL rivals, the Federal League didn't make it. In fact, very - very - few have challenged MLB. On this episode of Sports' Forgotten Heroes, baseball h

Jake Daubert was a star for the Brooklyn Robins and Brooklyn Dodgers during the early 1900s and finished his career with the Cincinnati Reds. He played during baseball's deadball era and was about as good as anyone. His play at first base was second-to-none and, at the plate, you would be hard-pressed to find many who could handle the bat as well as he did. In fact, when Daubert's career came to a tragic end in 1924, not only did he have a career batting average of .303, he was also 7th all-time in hits with 2,326. Now, back in those days, numbers like 3,000 hits weren't discussed. And, this was long before there was a Hall of Fame. However, had Daubert started his career earlier (he didn't break in until he was 26), perhaps he could have amassed 3,000 hits and his name would be much more familiar to baseball fans. As it is, though, he hit .300 or better 10 our of 12 years (including 6 in a row from 1911 through 1916) including 1913 when he hit .350 to lead the Majors and win the Chalmers Award. The Chalmers

The 1955 U.S. Open Golf Championship was supposed to be the crowning achievement to one of the greatest careers in the history of sports. Golf enthusiasts and sports fans all thought the U.S. Open, staged at San Francisco's Olympic Club, was a virtual lock for Ben Hogan to win. In fact, Hogan almost proved everyone to be right. The Hawk calculated what he needed to shoot to win on this "terror" of a course. And, he wasn't that far off. Hogan found himself 5-strokes back after the first round having shot a 2-over 72. He then started working his way up the leaderboard by shooting a 3-over 73 in round 2, a 2-over 72 in round 3 and an even-par 70 in the final round, five strokes better then all but one other golfer. No one ever considered journeyman Jack Fleck to contend. But, he too worked a little magic that weekend. After a first round 76, Fleck fired a 1-under 69 in the second round, followed that with a 5-over 75 in the third round and then he masterfully conquered the course by shooting a 3-under 67 in the

The name "Shoeless Joe Jackson" is one of the most famous in baseball history. A key figure to the dominant Chicago White Sox of the late 19-teens, Joe led the team to the World Series Championship in 1917 when he hit .304 in the 6-game series. However, we all know the story of what happened next. In 1919, the White Sox threw the Series against the Cincinnati Reds and a year later, despite batting .375 in the series Jackson, along with seven of his teammates, was banned for life. So, every year, when voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame rolls around, the name Joe Jackson is brought up and debated as to whether or not his ban should be lifted and entrance into the Hall of Fame granted. But, that's not what this episode is about. Rather, this episode is a discussion about the great career Shoeless Joe put together. A career that included a season in which he hit over .400, a career in which he hit .356 over 13 years. A career in which he connected for 168 triples (at the time, a triple was also a sign of power)

Jim Bottomley played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1922 to 1933. During his 11 years with the Redbirds, Bottomley just might have been the best first baseman in the National League. If he wasn't you'd be hard-pressed to find another first baseman who was better. During that 11 year span, Bottomley hit .325, whacked 181 home runs and knocked in 1,105. In 1928, he won the National League MVP. Four times, he helped the Cardinals win the pennant and in 1926, he helped St. Louis to a magical World Series Championship over the juggernaut that was to become the New York Yankees. He again, helped the Cardinals to a World Series Championship in 1931 over the Philadelphia Athletics. Bottomley is one of the only players in Major League history to twice have 6 hits in a single game and he once had 12 RBI in a game. Yet, when baseball fans are asked about Jim Bottomley, most have never heard of him. That could be because Bottomley played with Rogers Hornsby who was winning triple crowns while Jim was just going about h

Sid Gordon broke into the Majors in 1941 with the New York "baseball" Giants, bounced back-and-forth between the minors, served for two years during World War II and then made it back to the big league club in 1946; and proceeded to put together a terrific career. In fact, from 1948 through 1952 he established himself as one of the game's best by averaging 27 home runs a year, over 97 RBI a year, and during that 5-year span he hit .292 with his high, for that stretch, coming in 1950 when he hit .304. Gordon was a Jeff McNeil type of ballplayer. He could play the infield (3B) or outfield and even asked to play catcher. Over the course of his career, he played 809 games in left, 454 at third, 108 in right, 42 at first, 6 in center and 3 at second base. He clubbed 202 home runs, knocked in 805 and had a career batting average of .283. Gordon, a favorite of Leo Durocher, was reluctantly traded by the Giants to the Braves prior to the 1950 season. The native of Brooklyn, New York, was the one player the Boston Bra

He is the only quarterback - ever - to only play for 10 seasons and lead his team into the championship game every year of his career. He won the championship seven (7) times. And, yet, when the discussion about who is the greatest QB of all-time comes up, very few football fans mention the name Otto Graham. He played for the Cleveland Browns when they were "born" as an AAFC (All America Football Conference) team. The Browns, simply stated, were the best team in the league. In fact, Graham led the Browns to the AAFC title every year of the league's existence: 1946, 47, 48, 49. When the Browns (along with the San Francisco 49'ers and Baltimore Colts) moved into the NFL, most thought they had no chance to compete. Well, not only did the Browns compete, Graham led them to the NFL Championship in 1950. Graham played with the Browns, NFL-style, in 1950, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55. He won the Championship withe Bowns three times. The four years he didn't win the Championship, the Browns made the title game, but lost. Gr

In 1967, a new basketball league was born, the ABA (American Basketball Association) with teams in 11 cities including Indianapolis, Oakland, New Orleans, Denver and Dallas. The ABA also put a team in Pittsburgh, the Pipers. After a slow start, the Pipers got it going and twice won as many as 14 games in a row. In fact, the Pipers finished the season with a record of 54-24. They won the Eastern Conference and then worked their way through playoffs. In the first round, they swept the Indiana Pacers 3-0. In the Eastern Finals, they took out the Minnesota Muskies 4-1 and in the championship, in seven games, the Pipers outlasted the New Orleans Buccaneers 4-games-to-3. The Pipers were good. real good. In fact, they might have been good enough to qualify for the NBA playoffs. They were led by a budding superstar - Connie Hawkins. Blackballed by the NBA for his alleged involvement in a point shaving scandal, Hawkins was named the ABA's regualr season MVP and playoff's MVP. He averaged 26.8 ppg during the regular se

Steve Wright played 12 years in the NFL as an offensive lineman with the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders and a two detour into the USFL with Oakland Invaders. His story is quire remarkable considering how he wound up a starter despite being undrafted out of the University of Northern Iowa. But his determination and persistence not only helped him make the Cowboys in 1981, but become a fixture on the O-Line. He played with and against some of the game's greatest and played under three unique coaches: Tom Landry, Frank Kush and Art Shell. His story is filled with the highs and lows you would expect. But it's also filled with magnificent stories as well, three of which are among the most historic in history. In his rookie year, he thought he was on his way to the Super Bowl until Dwight Clark caught a pass from Joe Montana to vault the 49'ers and end the dreams of Cowboy fans everywhere. He was on the field for the longest TD run in NFL history, 99 1/2 yards by Tony Dorsett and

Art Ross is a true hockey legend. Not only was he a superb player before and during the formative years of the NHL, but he was also an innovator. In fact, many of Ross's innovations are still evident in today's game, beginning with the puck. But, it was on the ice where Ross made a name for himself. A tough and rugged defenseman, Ross was one of the top 2 or 3 players on the ice when hockey was in its pre-NHL days. Ross bounced around from team to team (many factors went into his choice on where to play every year) in Western Canada and in the East as well. The most recognizable team he played for was the Montreal Maroons. And, while Ross did play in the NHL, it wasn't for long (1917-1818 with the Montreal Wanderers) as he was ready to retire just as the NHL got going. But, Ross was still very much associated with the league as he became coach of the Boston Bruins for the 1924-25 season - and that's where a majority of his legend was born. Ross coached the Bruins for 17 different seasons and won the Stanley C

There have been so many dominant teams in the history of professional football and, in particular, teams with dominant defenses. In recent times, the 2007 New England Patriots who went 16-0 before losing in the Super Bowl. This year (the 2023 season), the Baltimore Ravens defense has been somewhat dominant, and their teams of the early 2000s were as tough as nails. Back in the 80s there were the Chicago Bears of Mike Singletary and Richard Dent, the New York Giants with Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson, in 70s you had the Doomsday Defense of the Dallas Cowboys, the Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steeles and the no-name defense of the 1972 Miami Dolphins who went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl. There have been several. But as far as the most dominant defense in the history of professional football is concerned, you would hard-pressed to find one that was more dominant than the 1903 Franklin All Stars. They didn't just dominate, you basically couldn't move the ball against them at all. In fact, over the course of

In the 1940s and into the 1950s, the NFL had a troubled franchise. Originally known as the Boston Yanks, the team played in Boston (with a slight detour in 1945) from 1944 through 1948. They relocated to New York for the 1949 season and renamed themselves the New York Bulldogs. In 1950, they called themselves the Yanks and after the 1951 season, they called it quits. Now, the NFL could not move forward with an odd number of teams. So, they found themselves a buyer and took a chance on an entirely new region of the country, the Southwest. A hotbed for college football, the NFL thought it was a no-brainer. So, the Yanks moved to Dallas and became the Dallas Texans where they would play in the 75,000-seat Cotton Bowl. Well, it didn't go well. The first-ever game attracted just under 18,000 fans. They never reached that number again. Professional football in Dallas - at that time - was a colossal failure. In fact, it was so bad, the Texans didn't finish the season in Dallas. After four home games they had to relo