November 28, 1929: Ernie Nevers puts on a Thanksgiving performance that is a feast for football fans' eyes.
A native of Superior, Wisconsin, and an All-American two-way back at Stanford University, Nevers debuted in the NFL with the Duluth Eskimos in 1926, but they folded after the 1927 season. He also played in Major League Baseball, pitching for the St. Louis Browns in the 1926, '27 and '28 seasons, going 6-12.
He claimed a back injury had let him to retire as a football player, and he spent the 1928 season assisting his former coach, Glenn "Pop" Warner, at Stanford. But 3 things became clear: He wasn't going to make it as a baseball player, he missed playing football, and he needed money. So, in 1929, he signed with the Chicago Cardinals.
As a running back and a placekicker, he had frequently scored every point the Eskimos had scored in a game. He resumed doing that with the Cardinals. On November 6, in the 1st night game in NFL history, he led the Cards to a 16-0 win over the host Providence Steam Roller. Here's how the 16 Cardinal points broke down: He ran for a touchdown, passed for a touchdown, kicked an extra point (but missed the other), and kicked a field goal.
He was just getting warmed up. On November 24, he scored 3 touchdowns and kicked an extra point, scoring all the Cardinals' points in a 19-0 win over the Dayton Triangles.
Just 4 days later, the Cardinals played the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day, as they had done each year since 1922. It was a nasty rivalry, between the Cardinals, who groundshared with the White Sox at Comiskey Park on the South Side, and the Bears, who groundshared with the Cubs at Wrigley Field on the North Side. That 1st game, in 1922, included a vicious brawl that included Bears end, head coach, general manager and owner George Halas.
This time, at Comiskey, there was no brawl. There was only the Ernie Nevers Show. In the 1st quarter, he ran for a touchdown, but missed the extra point. Then he ran for another, and made the extra point. 13-0 Cardinals. In the 2nd quarter, he ran for another touchdown, and kicked the extra point. At the half, 20-0 Cardinals.
The Bears got on the board in the 3rd quarter, when Garland "Gardie" Grange, younger brother of Red Grange, caught a touchdown pass from Walt Holmer. Gardie was the Bears' kicker that season, and missed the extra point. Nevers ran for a 4th touchdown, and made the extra point. After 3 quarters, 27-6 Cardinals.
In the 4th quarter, Nevers made it 5 touchdowns, but missed the extra point. Finally, he ran for a 6th touchdown, and made the extra point. He attempted no field goals. Final score: Cardinals 40, Bears 6. Nevers had scored 40 points in a single game. That remains an NFL record.
Six touchdowns in a single game? On November 25, 1951, also against the Bears, William "Dub" Jones of the Cleveland Browns ran for 4 and caught passes for 2, in a 42-21 win at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. On December 12, 1965, for the Bears, Gale Sayers ran for 4, caught a pass for 1, and returned a punt for 1, in a 61-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Wrigley Field.
Six rushing touchdowns in a single game? That wouldn't be done again until, appropriately enough, another holiday: Christmas, December 25, 2020, when Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints did it in a 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings at the Superdome in New Orleans.
But from the 1960s onward, when placekickers tended to be specialists, not also players starting at another position, 40 points in a game has not been seriously threatened. There have been instances of 7 field goals in a game (21 points), plus extra points. But Jones, Sayers and Kamara are the only players to score 36 since Nevers, and none of them kicked anything.
All that playing, including on both offense and defense, finally caught up to Nevers and the Cardinals. Three days after the 40-point performance, the Cards lost to the New York Giants, 24-21 at the Polo Grounds. Still, never ran for a touchdown, threw a touchdown pass, and set up the other Cardinal touchdown when he intercepted a pass from Benny Friedman and took it to the 1-yard line. This time, though, while the Cardinals converted all 3 extra points, Nevers only kicked 1 of them.
Nevers continued to play for the Cardinals through the 1931 season, then went back into coaching, including as head coach of the Cardinals in the 1930, '31, and '39 seasons. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, rising to the rank of Major, and serving as the athletic director at the Marine base in San Diego.
He was a charter inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Although Stanford retired his Number 1, the Cardinal franchise, now based in Arizona, has never retired the Number 4 he wore with them. However, he is 1 of 8 figures from their Chicago years who have been inducted into their Ring of Honor. He died in 1976. In 2010, the NFL Network ranked him 89th on their list of the 100 Greatest Players.
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November 28, 1929 was a Thursday, and a Thanksgiving Day. Berry Gordy Jr., founder and operator of Motown Records, was born on this day.
There were 2 other NFL games played that day. The New York Giants beat their then-crosstown rivals, the Staten Island Stapletons, 21-7 at Thompson Stadium in Staten Island. And the Green Bay Packers and the Frankford Yellow Jackets played to a 0-0 tie at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia.
And there were 25 college games:
* Carnegie Tech beat NYU, 20-0 at Yankee Stadium.
* Syracuse beat Columbia, 6-0 at Baker Field in Manhattan.
* The University of Pennsylvania beat Cornell, 17-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* The University of Pittsburgh beat Penn State, 20-7 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* Maryland beat Johns Hopkins, 28-6 at Homewood Field in Baltimore. (That was, and remains, Hopkins' home field. They now compete in NCAA Division III.)
* Virginia Military Institute (VMI) beat Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI, now usually known as Virginia Tech), 14-0 at Maher Field in Roanoke, Virginia (neutral ground).
* West Virginia beat Washington & Jefferson, 6-0 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.
* Tennessee and Kentucky played to a 6-6 tie at Stoll Field in Lexington, Kentucky.
* North Carolina beat Virginia, 41-6 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Wake Forest beat Mercer, 13-0 at Memorial Stadium in Asheville, North Carolina.
* Clemson beat Furman, 7-6 at Riggs Field in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Georgia Tech beat Auburn, 19-0 at Grant Field in Atlanta.
* Florida beat Washington & Lee, 25-7 at Fleming Field in Gainesville, Florida.
* Georgia beat Alabama, 12-0 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
* The University of Mississippi (then as now, nicknamed Ole Miss) and Mississippi A&M (which became Mississippi State in 1932) played to a 7-7 tie at Hemingway Stadium (now Vaught-Hemingway Stadium), Ole Miss' home in Oxford.
* Tulane beat Louisiana State 21-0 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Arkansas beat Oklahoma A&M, 32-6 at Lewis Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (A&M became Oklahoma State in 1958.)
* Texas A&M beat Texas, 13-0 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
* Marquette beat Kansas State, 25-6 at Marquette Stadium in Milwaukee.
* Missouri beat Oklahoma, 13-0 at Memorial Stadium (now Faurot Field) in Columbia, Missouri.
* Nebraska beat Iowa State, 31-12 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
* Colorado College beat Colorado Mines, 13-0 at Washburn Field in Colorado Springs. (Colorado College became an NCAA Division III school, and they discontinued their football program in 2008. Colorado School of Mines is located in Golden, and now plays in NCAA Division II. Neither should be confused with either the University of Colorado or Colorado State University.)
* Utah beat Utah State, 26-7 at Ute Stadium in Salt Lake City.
* UCLA beat Montana, 14-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* And St. Mary's beat Oregon, 31-6 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
Baseball was out of season. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. But there were 3 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Americans beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at the old (then the new) Madison Square Garden. Normie Himes scored the winner, just 24 seconds into overtime. (The Senators folded in 1934, the Americans in 1942.)
* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-2 at the Chicago Coliseum.
* And the Detroit Cougars beat the Montreal Maroons, 7-6 at the Montreal Forum. (The Cougars became the Detroit Falcons in 1930, and the Detroit Red Wings in 1932. The Maroons folded in 1938.)
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