September 25, 1921: The Nesser Brothers, Father, & Son

The Nesser Brothers. Left to right:

Ted, John, Phil, Al, Frank, and Fred.

September 25, 1921: The Akron Pros beat the Columbus Panhandles, 14-0 at League Park in Canton, Ohio. Both teams had been members of the Ohio League before the 1920 founding of the American Professional Football Association, which became the National Football League in 1922.

This game featured a father and a son playing for the same team. That had never happened before, and would never happen again.

Theodore Nesser was an immigrant from Germany, who lost a finger in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In 1882, he came to America, to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, raising 12 children in Dennison, Ohio.

John was born in 1875, Anna in 1876, Pete in 1877, Ermina in 1879, and Phil in 1880, all in Trier, on the Moselle River, Germany's border with Luxembourg. Ted was born in 1883 in Dennison. Mary was born in 1885 in Delaware, Ohio. Fred was born in 1887, Frank in 1889, Mary in 1891, Al(fred) in 1893, and Ray in 1898, all in Columbus, Ohio. Mary died in 1900, only 15 years old; and Ermina in 1910, at 31, and didn't live to see their brothers play professionally.

Of the 8 brothers, 7 joined their father as boilermakers on the railroad, hard work that made them all very strong. None of them went to college. But in 1907, Joe Carr formed a new version of the Columbus Panhandles, who played from 1901 to 1904 but disbanded for financial reasons. They were named for the Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Six of the brothers played for them, and Carr was able to save on travel costs, because, as employees of the Railroad, the brothers could ride for free. And he scheduled mostly road games, meaning he didn't have to pay for the rental of a stadium, promoting the games (the home teams did that), or stadium security (ditto).

For the Panhandles:

* Ted played center, guard and tackle for the original Panhandles in 1904, for the Shelby Blues in 1904, the Massillon Tigers from 1904 to 1906, and for the Panhandles again from 1907 to 1921.

* Frank played fullback, guard and tackle from 1907 to 1924, and then the Columbus Tigers in 1925 and 1926.

* Fred, at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds the biggest, played fullback, end and tackle from 1909 to 1921. (Actually, Pete was the biggest of the brothers, weighing 350, but had no interest in playing football.)

* John played guard and tackle from 1909 to 1921.

* Phil played guard, tackle and wingback from 1909 to 1921.

* Al played guard and end from 1910 to 1919, and also for the Akron Pros from 1920 to 1925 (meaning he played against his brother and nephew in the game in question), and for the New York Giants from 1926 to 1928 (meaning that, with the 1927 Giants, he was the only one of the brothers to win an NFL Championship).

* And Ray played wingback, guard and tackle, only played a few games for the team in 1915 before an injury ended his career. He became a police officer in Columbus.

At a time when the average pro lineman weighed just 180 pounds, the Nessers averaged 210. Knute Rockne, who played against them for the Massillon Tigers before coaching at Notre Dame, said, "Getting hit by a Nesser is like falling off a moving train." (Given their regular jobs, that may have been an appropriate analogy.)

In spite of the Nessers and their other talent, the Panhandles were not a great team. They went 7-1-1 in 1909, 7-2 in 1914, 8-3-1 in 1915, and 7-5 in 1916, but never won the Ohio League title. The manpower drain of World War I ruined them: They went 2-6 in 1917, could only play 1 game in 1918 and lost it, and went 3-6-1 in 1919.

They joined the APFA/NFL in 1920, but, by that point, all but Al and Ray were in their 30s; and John and Phil were past 40. In 1920, the Panhandles finished 2-6-2, coming in 13th. Only the Indiana-based Muncie Flyers, who played only 1 League game (and lost it), finished behind them.

In 1921, Ted Nesser, 38 years old, was the head coach, and still playing. Also on the roster was Charlie Nesser, his 18-year-old son. This likely makes Charlie the youngest player in NFL history, although that's not official. Charlie played 9 games as a tailback, starting 6. That would be the extent of his NFL career: He played his last professional game at an age when some football players are still in high school.

Charlie (left) and Ted

The Panhandles also had Ted Hopkins, son of Anna Nesser and her husband, although he was smaller than his uncles, and only lasted the 1921 and 1922 seasons; and John Schneider, a wingback who, in the middle of his career, married another of the Nesser sisters, Mary. So: Six brothers, a brother-in-law, a son of one of the brothers, and a son of one of the sisters, all in the same team in the same season, and sometimes at the same time. That's 8 of the 11 players on the field at any given time, all family.

In case you're interested in uniform numbers, as I am, noting that football pioneered the use of them before the other major North American sports: Charlie wore 1, Ted wore 2, Phil wore 4, Fred wore 5, John wore 6, Al wore 7, Ted Hopkins wore 12, Frank wore 19, and John Schneider's number is not recorded.

The 1921 Panhandles went 3-8, but, in games against other NFL teams, only went 1-8, beating only the Louisville Brecks. The Panhandles finished 17th out of 21, but, among teams that played at least 4 games against other NFL teams, they were 17th and last.

The Panhandles played the 1922 season, but of the Nesser brothers, only Frank was still with them. They went 0-8. In 1923, the team's name was changed to the Columbus Tigers. Maybe the name change helped: They went 5-4-1, finishing 8th. They only dropped to 4-4 in 1924. But the bottom fell out, and they went 0-9 in 1925 and 1-6 in 1926. Having team owner Carr as League President didn't help, as his attention was divided, and he disbanded the team.

Yes, that conflict of interest existed: After a year with Jim Thorpe as President only in a ceremonial role, the APFA appointed Joe Carr as President in 1921, and he served in that role until his death in 1939.

John died in 1931, Ted in 1941, Anna in 1949, Frank in 1953, Pete in 1954, both Phil and Mary in 1959, both Fred and Al in 1967, and Ray was the last survivor, living until September 2, 1969. Ted's son Charlie didn't outlive his last uncle by much, living until February 26, 1970. Ted Hopkins died in 1955, and John Schneider in 1957.

Despite their contributions to early pro football, none of the Nessers have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There are 3 sets of fathers and sons in the Hall, but none of the 6 men were elected for their achievements as players: New York Giants owners Tim and Wellington Mara, Pittsburgh Steelers owners Art and Dan Rooney, and NFL Films owners Ed and Steve Sabol in the "Contributors" category.

Tony Dorsett is in the Hall of Fame, and his son Anthony had a fine 8-year career. Bob Griese is in the Hall of Fame, and his son Brian was once an All-Pro. Kellen Winslow is in the Hall of Fame, and Kellen Jr. was an All-Pro. Howie Long is in the Hall of Fame, and his son Chris played 11 seasons, with the rare distinction of winning back-to-back Super Bowls with 2 different teams. Archie Manning was an All-Pro, and his sons Peyton and Eli are in the Hall of Fame. A father, son and grandson named Clay Matthews have been All-Pros, Clay Sr.'s son Bruce is in the Hall of Fame, and both Bruce and Clay Jr. have sons in the NFL. Joe Klecko was an All-Pro, and his son Dan won 3 Super Bowls.

But Ted and Charlie Nesser remain the only father and son to both play in the NFL at the same time, let alone for the same team in the same game.

*

September 25, 1921 was a Sunday. Columbus vs. Akron was the only game played that day in the APFA/NFL. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 21-7 at the Polo Grounds. Bob Meusel and Chick Fewster hit home runs. Fewster was a defensive replacement for Babe Ruth, who went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. All this was in support of Carl Mays, who advanced to 26-9 on the season. For the Indians, center fielder and manager Tris Speaker went 0-for-3. Six days later, the Yankees would clinch their 1st Pennant, dethroning the Indians as American League Champions.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while managed by Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931) lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at Redland Field in Cincinnati. (It was renamed Crosley Field in 1934.)

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ty Cobb went 2-for-3.

* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves, 4-3 and 8-7 at Cubs Park. (It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.) Both games went 12 innings.

* Professional sports on Sunday would not be legal in Pennsylvania until 1933. So the Philadelphia Athletics had a day off in their home series with the Chicago White Sox at Shibe Park.

* The National League's 2 Pennsylvania teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates, were playing each other, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and had to take a day off.

* Professional sports on Sunday would also be illegal in Massachusetts until 1928. So the Boston Red Sox had a day off in their series with the St. Louis Browns.