Weldon Humble

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Weldon Humble
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:221 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school:San Antonio (TX) Brackenridge
College:Rice
NFL draft:1943 / Round: 24 / Pick: 224
(by the Chicago Cardinals)[1]
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games:58
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

Weldon Gaston "Hum" Humble (April 24, 1921 – April 14, 1998) was an

guard who played five seasons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Texans
in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Humble grew up in

Orange Bowl
.

The AAFC's

Baltimore Colts signed Humble in 1947, but the Browns acquired him in a trade before the season. Humble became an anchor on Cleveland's offensive line, helping the team win three straight AAFC titles in the late 1940s. When the AAFC dissolved in 1949, Cleveland moved to the NFL and won another championship in 1950. Humble, who remained in the Marine Reserves, was called into service in the Korean War after the season. He was expected to return to Cleveland the following year, but head coach Paul Brown
traded him to the Texans before the 1952 season began. He retired after one year in Dallas.

After his playing career, Humble worked as a bank executive and at an office supply company. He was also the chairman of the selection committee for the Bluebonnet Bowl. Humble was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1961, and was named to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the South Texas Football Hall of Fame in 1969. He is also a member of the Rice University Athletics Hall of Fame. He died in 1998 in Houston following a long illness.

Early life and college career

Humble was born in

Houston, Texas in 1940.[2]

Humble began play on Rice's freshman team as an end in 1940.

Southwest Conference honors and won the George Martin Award, given to Rice's most valuable player, as Rice put up a 7–2–1 record.[6][7]

Humble left Rice in 1943 for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then called Southwestern Louisiana Institute, to prepare for service in World War II in a V-12 U.S. Navy training program.[3] As he trained, he played alongside enlistees from Tulane University, the University of Tulsa and Louisiana State University on a military team that won six straight games and was selected to play in the first Oil Bowl in Houston.[3] Captained by Humble, Southwestern beat a service team from Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.[3] Halfback Alvin Dark loved playing behind Humble, recalling years later that "I'd never seen such blocking."[8]

After the season, Humble enlisted in the

AP Poll.[12]

Professional football career

Baltimore Colts selected Humble in the league's draft, but Brown got his chance in August.[3] He engineered a trade that sent four players including quarterback Steve Nemeth and guard George Cheroke to the Colts, plus two players to be named later.[13]

Before joining the Browns, Humble played in the

College All-Star Game, a now-defunct annual matchup between the National Football League (NFL) champion and a selection of the best college players from around the country.[3] The college all-stars won the game, defeating the Chicago Bears 16–0.[14] In Cleveland, Humble was part of an offensive line that included Lin Houston, Ed Ulinski and Bob Gaudio.[15] Their job was to protect quarterback Otto Graham from opposing defenders and open up running room for fullback Marion Motley.[15] They chanted "nobody touches Graham" when they broke the huddle.[15]

Helped by strong line play, Graham, Motley and Cleveland ends Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie led a potent offense that dominated the AAFC for three years. The Browns won the AAFC championship in 1947, 1948 and 1949 before the league disbanded and Cleveland was absorbed by the more established NFL.[16] Humble was a consensus second-team All-Pro selection in 1948, when Cleveland won all of its games.[17] Cleveland's success continued in the NFL in 1950, when Humble was used on occasion as a linebacker on defense.[15] The Browns finished the season with a 10–2 record and beat the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL championship game.[18] Humble was selected to play in the first-ever Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game.[19]

Humble continued as a member of the Marine Reserves as his professional career continued, and in 1951 he was in danger of being called up for service in the Korean War.[20] He re-enlisted in the summer and played for a military team at Marine Corps Base Quantico later in the year.[21] After the season, he was named the best service player in the country by the Washington Touchdown Club.[22]

Humble was expected to return to the Browns after his discharge from the military in 1952.[22] In a surprise move, however, Brown traded him before the season to the Dallas Texans for fullback Sherman Howard.[23] The trade was unexpected because Cleveland's other guards, including Gaudio and Alex Agase, were getting older and nearing retirement.[23] "I'm sure we'll be all right at the guard position," Brown said at the time. "But we do have a definite fullback problem."[23] Humble played one season for the Texans before retiring.[24] Dallas had a 1–11 record in 1952.[25]

Later life and death

After his football career, Humble worked for 20 years at First City National Bank in Houston.[10][26] He later became vice-president of an office supply firm called Stationers, Inc.[10][24] He maintained an affiliation with his Texas alma mater, serving as president and later director of the R Association, an alumni group for former Rice student-athletes.[10] In the late 1960s, he became the president of the Greater Houston Bowl Association, which organized the Bluebonnet Bowl.[27] By the mid-1970s, he was chairman of the Bowl's selection committee.[28]

Humble won numerous honors after his career. He became the first Rice player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1961.[29] He was included on a 50th anniversary All-Southwest Conference team in 1968, and in 1970 was one of the first people inducted into the Rice University Athletics Hall of Fame.[30] Humble was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the South Texas Football Hall of Fame in 1969.[31]

Later in life, Humble worked for the Harris County Appraisal Review Board and was a salesman for an office furniture supply company. He died in 1998 in Houston after a long illness.[24] Humble and his wife Lorraine had three children.[10]

References

  1. ^ "1943 Chicago Cardinals". databasefootball.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Weldon Humble at the College Football Hall of Fame
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Sauerbrei, Harold (October 9, 1947). "Humble Leaps From Dance Floor to Colts to Job With Browns". Cleveland Plain Dealer. pp. 19–20.
  4. ^ Graham, Dillon (December 12, 1941). "Soph All Star Team Selected". Prescott Evening Courier. New York. Associated Press. p. 5. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  5. ^ "1941 Rice Owls". Database Football. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  6. ^ "1942 Rice Owls". Database Football. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  7. ^ "First Annual Presentation of Awards" (PDF). Rice Athletic Hall of Fame. November 21, 1970. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  8. ISBN 0-525-23264-8
    .
  9. ^ "Lorraine Merritt Humble". August 3, 2004. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  10. ^
    hdl:1911/64006
    .
  11. ^ "Weldon Humble Week's Lineman". The Spokesman-Review. New York. Associated Press. November 21, 1946. p. 12. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  12. ^ a b "1946 Rice Owls". Database Football. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  13. ^ "Colts Swap Rice Star To Browns". St. Petersburg Times. Hershey, Pa. Associated Press. August 15, 1947. p. 11. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  14. ^ Dyer, Braven (August 25, 1947). "Fine Coaching Defeats Bears". Los Angeles Times. p. A11. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  15. ^ a b c d Piascik 2007, p. 19.
  16. ^ Piascik 2007, pp. 81, 121, 141, 146.
  17. ^ Piascik 2007, p. 122.
  18. ^ Piascik 2007, p. 181.
  19. ^ Piascik 2007, p. 185.
  20. ^ Sauerbrei, Harold (January 17, 1951). "Pinch Hitting". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 23.
  21. ^ Cobbledick, Gordon (May 25, 1951). "Plain Dealing". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 15.
  22. ^ a b Cobbledick, Gordon (January 15, 1952). "Plain Dealing". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 22.
  23. ^ a b c Sauerbrei, Harold (June 24, 1952). "Humble Is Traded to Dallas for Fullback". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 25.
  24. ^ a b c "S.A. sports star Humble, 76, dies". San Antonio Express-News. April 17, 1998. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  25. ^ "1952 Dallas Texans Statistics & Players". Pro Football Reference. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  26. ^ "Weldon Humble Is Victoria Visitor". The Victoria Advocate. February 5, 1957. p. 7. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  27. ^ "UofH, Auburn In Bluebonnet". The Victoria Advocate. Houston, Tex. Associated Press. November 18, 1969. p. 2B. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  28. ^ "Texas Tech Can Go to Peach Bowl". The Bonham Daily Favorite. United Press International. November 8, 1974. p. 8. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  29. ^ "Weldon Humble Is Named To Hall of Fame". The Bonham Daily Favorite. New York. United Press International. May 24, 1961. p. 8. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  30. ^ Pool, Chuck (October 24, 2008). "Two Owls on ballot for Orange Bowl's 75th anniversary team". Rice News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  31. ^ "Humble, Weldon". Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.

Bibliography

  • Piascik, Andy (2007). The Best Show in Football: The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing.
    ISBN 978-1-58979-571-6
    .

External links
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