Peggy Parratt
Parratt's Indians | |
1916 | Cleveland Tigers |
---|---|
Career highlights and awards | |
|
George Watson "Peggy" Parratt (March 21, 1883 – January 3, 1959) was a professional
College career
Parratt played
By admitting openly to playing for Shelby, Parratt thus became the first college football star to be disciplined by his school for moonlighting as a professional football player. Several other college players had secretly played professional football, but they always denied the charges when questioned. However Case still awarded Peggy his varsity letter, citing his invaluable leadership on and off the field during the major part of the 1905 football season. He also made All-Ohio Honors for 1905 and was allowed to coach the college's baseball team, after being stripped of captaincy due to the scandal. After graduating from Case in 1906, Parratt was offered the head football coaching job at Marietta College, however he turned it down to continue his professional playing career. In 1909, however, Peggy was an assistant football coach at Case, while he was also playing for the Shelby Blues.[1]
Professional career
Massillon Tigers
After losing his amateur status, Parratt played football for the Lorain Pros for the remainder of the 1905 season. In 1906, Peggy was signed by the Massillon Tigers, in part because of his mastery of the
During the Tigers season-ending series with the
Franklin Athletic Club
During his year with the Franklin A.C., Parratt played in only a few games. He spent the majority of his time, officiating professional football games in the Cleveland-area.[1]
Shelby Blues
Sometime before the 1908 season, Parratt returned to the Shelby Blues, the place where he made his professional debut in 1905. He became the owner of the franchise by helping to organize and financially back the team. He also became a player-coach for the Blues and helped the team recruit players. In his first year with the Blues, the team defeated all of their rivals and finished in a tie with the Akron Indians for state honors. However, in 1909, the Indians defeated the Blues 13–9 and claimed the championship.[1]
For the 1910 season, Parratt decided to recruit heavily to put together a contender in Shelby. As a result, Peggy signed several well-known Ohio college graduates and combined them with the best local veteran players he could find. The plan worked and Shelby upset the Indians twice, 16–6 and 8–5, and the Blues claimed the 1910 Ohio title.[1][5]
1911 Ohio League title forfeit
Parratt used the same plan for the upcoming 1911 season and once again Shelby defeated Akron twice, 6–0 and 3–0. The 1911 title game was then to be between the Blues and the revived Canton Bulldogs, then referred to as the
Akron Indians
Before the 1912 season, Parratt left Shelby for Akron. He took the move realizing that he could make more money in the larger football market that Akron could provide. When he arrived in Akron, his first move was to change the team name from the "Akron" Indians to "Parratt's" Indians. With Peggy as player, coach, and owner-manager, the Indians split their series with Shelby and twice defeated Canton, 14–7 and 19–7. However, they were defeated by the unheard of Elyria Athletics, who then took the Ohio championship. The Athletics were mostly former Blues players who formed a team in Elyria after Parratt left for Akron.[1]
The following season, Peggy brought most of Elyria's 1912 championship team to Akron, and adding them to his roster. The Indians then beat Shelby and Elyria. They also managed to tie the rapidly improving Canton Pros. During Indians championship game against Shelby, the Blues loaded their team with a collection of famous players from big Eastern schools and supported each member with a payroll of $700 for just that one game. However, the game was cancelled due to snowstorm. A week later when the Blues returned to Akron, the Indians were prepared with newly recruited talent that was viewed as even superior to that of Shelbys. The Indians won the game 20–0 and brought the Ohio title back to Akron.[1]
The death of Harry Turner
For his 1914 recruiting efforts, Parratt signed the usual big names players, which consisted of a lineup that changed from week to week, with just enough stars on hand to guarantee a win. However, in 1914, he also employed several former
Cleveland Tigers
To avoid an Akron title in 1915 the owners of the Massillon Tigers raided Parratt's Akron roster and took away many of his star players.[8] Canton manager, Jack Cusack, also picked up some former Akron players and signed Jim Thorpe to his renamed Canton Bulldogs team. By the end of the season, Parratt's team was made up mostly of Akron sandlotters.[7]
After the disastrous 1915 season, Parratt returned to Cleveland, where he took some of his former Akron players and a few ex-collegians into a respectable team which he named the Cleveland Tigers. The 1916 Tigers compiled a winning record despite falling to the Bulldogs and splitting a two-game series with the Columbus Panhandles. Parratt played his last professional football game on October 22, 1916, as his Tigers lost to Columbus 9–6.[1]
Formation of the NFL
After his retirement from football, Parratt's name was always brought up when anyone tried to establish a concrete football league. Peggy was not part of the 1920 meetings set-up by Ralph Hay which saw the birth of the National Football League. He did reappear on the football scene on August 1, 1925, in Chicago, representing Cleveland Tigers owner Samuel Deutsch. A few months later on February 6, 1926, Parratt was appointed to two of the NFL's most important committees. The first committee consisted of a seven-member panel that was charged with redrafting the NFL constitution and by-laws. The second committee was a three-man committee to meet with the Intercollegiate Committee of Athletics (ICA) in New York City. The other two members of this panel were George Halas and Dr. Harry March.[1]
Bridge player
After his football-playing days, he achieved some notability at tournaments in the later days of auction and the early days of contract bridge.[9][10][11][12][13]
Death
Parratt died on January 3, 1959, and was interred at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.[14]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Roberts, Milt (1979). "Peggy Parratt MVP" (PDF). Coffin Corner. 1 (6). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-22.
- ^ "Chronology of Professional Football" (PDF). NFL.com. National Football League. p. 1. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- ISBN 0-19-511913-4.
- ^ "Blondy Wallace and the Biggest Football Scandal Ever" (PDF). PFRA Annual. 5. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–16. 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
- ^ Carroll, Bob (1991). "Shelby Who? Ohio Pro Football in 1910" (PDF). Coffin Corner. 13 (4). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-06.
- ^ "Parratt Wins Again" (PDF). Pro Football Researchers Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- ^ a b c PFRA Research. "Parratt Stays on Top 1914" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-26.
- ^ *Cusack, Jack (1987). "Pioneer in Pro Football" (PDF). Coffin Corner (8). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-11.
- ^ "The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on February 6, 1932 · 8". The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 6, 1932. p. 8. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ "Contract Bridge Hands". Ironwood Daily Globe. September 13, 1933. p. 4. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ "Protests Mar Bridge Play". The Wilkes-Barre Record. December 7, 1933. p. 10. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ "Bridge-Players at Cedar Point". Sandusky Register. August 24, 1935. p. 1. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Culbertson, Ely, ed. (1935). The Encyclopedia of Bridge.
Parratt, G. W., of Cleveland, Ohio, civil engineer, born in Ohio in 1883, won first place in the Indianapolis Pair Championship, 1931; Cincinnati Team-of-Four, 1931 and 1932; American Whist League Auction Pair, 1932; A. B. L. Men's Auction Pair, 1933; Midwestern Team-of-Four, 1933, and Conneaut Lake Masters' Contract Pair, 1934; and second place in the Dartmouth Pair Championship in 1931; Cincinnati Pair, 1931; Ohio State Pair and Team-of-Four, 1932, and American Whist League All-American Auction Pair in 1931.
- ^ "Ohio Sports 'Great' G. W. Parratt Dies". The Plain Dealer. January 6, 1959. p. 27.