Ralph Horween

Ralph Horween (born Ralph Horwitz; also known as Ralph McMahon or B. McMahon; August 3, 1896 – May 26, 1997) was an American football player and coach. He played fullback and halfback and was a punter and drop-kicker for the unbeaten Harvard Crimson football teams of 1919 and 1920, which won the 1920 Rose Bowl. He was voted an All-American.

Ralph Horween
Born:(1896-08-03)August 3, 1896
Chicago, United States
Died:May 26, 1997(1997-05-26) (aged 100)
Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Career information
Position(s)Fullback
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight200 lb (91 kg)
CollegeHarvard
High schoolFrancis W. Parker
Career history
As coach
1923Chicago Cardinals (assistant)
As player
1921Racine Cardinals
1921–23Chicago Cardinals
Career stats
Military career
AllegianceUnited States United States
Service/branchUnited States Navy seal U.S. Navy
Years of service1917–19
Rank Lieutenant
UnitUSS Talofa, USS Connecticut, USS Maury, USS Gregory
Battles/warsWorld War I

Horween played three seasons in the National Football League (NFL), for the Racine Cardinals/Chicago Cardinals. In addition, he was an assistant coach for the Cardinals during his playing years.

His brother, Arnold Horween, was also an All-American football player for Harvard, and also played in the NFL for the Cardinals. They were the last Jewish brothers to play in the NFL until Geoff Schwartz and Mitchell Schwartz, in the 2000s.

After retiring from football, Horween attended Harvard Law School, and became a patent attorney, and later a federal government official. He was also a successful businessman, as he raised cattle and helped run the family leather tannery business, Horween Leather Company. He was the first NFL player to live to the age of 100.[1]

Early and personal life
Horween (second from left) with his parents and brother Arnold

Horween's Jewish parents, Isidore and Rose (Rabinoff), immigrated to Chicago from Ukraine in the Russian Empire in 1892.[2][3][4] His family changed its name during his youth to Horween from its original name, which was either Horwitz or Horowitz.[5][6][7][8]

Horween was born in Chicago.[8][9] He was the brother of Arnold Horween, who was two years younger.[10] The Horween brothers were the last Jewish brothers to play in the NFL until offensive tackles Geoff Schwartz and Mitchell Schwartz in the 2000s.[11][12]

Horween played high school football at Francis W. Parker School.[4][13]

He was 5' 10" (1.78 m), and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).[14] He eloped and married Genevieve Brown (born March 4, 1901) in October 1924; they were married for 64 years until her death on November 25, 1987.[3][6][15] They moved to Cismont, Virginia, in 1952, and later to Charlottesville, Virginia.[16] He had two sons, Ralph Stow and Frederick Stow.[16]

College and Navy career

Horween played fullback and halfback in the backfield, the two running back positions, and was known as a good punter and drop-kicker, at Harvard University for the Harvard Crimson. He was an All-American.[13][17][18][19][20][21] He was described as a "line plunger" of "tremendous power."[22]

On November 11, 1916, he kicked a 35-yard (32 m) field goal to lead Harvard over previously unbeaten Princeton, 3–0.[23] That year, he was named Walter Camp All-America honorable mention at fullback, and New York Times All-East honorable mention.[14]

During World War I, he enlisted and was a Junior Lieutenant in the United States Navy, on active duty from April 1917 to July 1919.[24][25] He attended cadet school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and served on the patrol vessel USS Talofa, the battleship USS Connecticut, the destroyer USS Maury, and the destroyer USS Gregory.[24][26]

In both 1919 and 1920 Harvard was undefeated (9–0–1, as they outscored their competition 229–19, and 8–0–1, respectively).[14][27][28] In 1919, Donald Grant Herring ranked Horween the Third-Team center on the Princeton-Yale-Harvard composite team, and opined that if he had played regularly at center for the entire season he might have been the number one choice, and the New York Times named him All-East honorable mention.[14][22]

Horween was part of the unbeaten Harvard football team that won the 1920 Rose Bowl against Oregon, 7–6.[19][29][30] Horween sustained a chipped collarbone and dislocated shoulder in the victory.[31][32] It remain's the only bowl game appearance in Harvard football history.[33] He graduated with an A.B. in May 1920.[34]

Professional football career

He played 22 career games in the National Football League.[14] Playing under the alias of the Irish name Ralph McMahon or B. McMahon or R. McMahon,[6][8][19][35][36] Horween started playing professional football a year after the NFL was founded, and played for the Cardinals for three years (first as they were called the Racine Cardinals, in the American Professional Football Association, the predecessor to the NFL).[37] He played for the renamed Chicago Cardinals from 1921 to 1923.[19] He was paid $40 ($700 in current dollar terms) a week.[38] His brother Arnold teamed up with him, playing for the Cardinals as well.[19] On November 30, 1922, he kicked a 34-yard (31 m) field goal as the Cardinals beat the Chicago Staleys 6–0.[36]

On October 7, 1923, he and his brother both scored in the same game, as he ran for a touchdown and his brother kicked two extra points as the Cardinals beat the Rochester Jeffersons 60–0 at Normal Park in Chicago.[23] On December 2, 1923, they did it again, as ran for a touchdown and his brother kicked a 35-yard (32 m) field goal as the Cardinals beat the Oorang Indians 22–19.[23] In 1923, his brother became head coach of the Cardinals and Ralph joined him as an assistant coach, as both continued to play as well.[14][33] He played in 11 games that season as the team went 8–4–0.[14] He was paid $275 ($4,700 in current dollar terms) for a late season game, and used it to buy an engagement ring and elope.[6] He retired following the 1923 season.[14]

Life after football

Harvard Law School, and law career

After retiring from football, Horween returned to Harvard Law School, where he wrote "The Effect of Certain Types of State Statutes Upon the Criteria, in the Federal Courts, of the Adequacy of the Remedy at Law as a Basis for Federal Equity Jurisdiction", which was published by the law school in 1929.[39] He earned an LL.B. law degree in 1929, and that year became a member of the Illinois State Bar and a patent attorney.[19][40][41][42] He later had a successful law practice in Chicago, known as Topliff, Horween & Merrick from 1940 to 1942, and Topliff & Horween after 1942.[3][19][20][43] He was also a successful businessman, as he raised cattle and helped run a family business that supplied the leather for the footballs used in the NFL.[19][42]

He served as chief of the Chicago office of the federal Petroleum Administrative Board that administered crude oil permits, and was a special assistant federal attorney who handled prosecutions of oil code violations.[19][44][45][46] Horween served as Assistant for Oil to Harold L. Ickes, the Oil Administrator and United States Secretary of the Interior, resigning in 1934.[46][47][48] He authored What are the Essentials of Sound Oil Conservation Legislation for Illinois?, which was published in 1939, and presented on "Illinois Oil and Gas Legislation" to the Illinois State Bar Association and the Indiana State Bar Association the same year.[49][50]

Horween Leather Company

He and his brother inherited the family leather tannery business, Horween Leather Company in Chicago which had been founded in 1905. Among other things, the company provided the leather used in NFL footballs for many years. He was the company's chief manufacturing executive, and was working at the company in 1950.[16][33][41][45] [51]

Horween Professorship

He endowed the Horween Professorship at the University of Virginia, a research chair in the field of small manufacturing enterprises, in honor of his father and in memory of his wife, Genevieve Brown Horween.[52][53]

Centenarian

In 1994, the NFL honored 95-year-old Arda Bowser as the league's oldest living ex-NFL player.[54] It was only later that NFL officials discovered that they had made a mistake – because Horween, who was 99 years old at the time, was still alive.[54]

In 1996, Horween turned 100, becoming the first NFL player to turn 100.[19][20]

He died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 26, 1997.[19]

See also

References
  1. Goldstein, Richard (May 29, 1997). "Ralph Horween, 100, the Oldest Ex-N.F.L. Player". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  2. Raphael, Sven (March 21, 2012). "Horween Leather Company Chicago". Gentleman's Gazette. Retrieved March 13, 2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Julius Schwartz; Solomon Aaron Kaye; John Simons (1933). Who's who in American Jewry. Vol. 3. Jewish Biographical Bureau. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  4. The Sentinel's history of Chicago Jewry, 1911–1961. Sentinel Publishing Co. Chicago. 1961. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  5. Charles H. Joseph (1926). "18M". The Jewish Criterion. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  6. "Ralph Horween" (PDF). profootballresearchers.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  7. Stanley Bernard Frank (1936). The Jew in sports. The Miles Publishing Company. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  8. Gerald R. Gems (2000). For Pride, Profit, and Patriarchy: Football and the Incorporation of American Cultural Values. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810836853. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  9. Gregg Rosenthal (June 19, 2012). "Schwartzes first Jewish brothers in NFL since 1923". Nfl.com. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  10. Bernard Postal; Jesse Silver; Roy Silver (1965). Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports. Bloch Pub. Co. Retrieved March 22, 2013. Ralph Horween.
  11. Gregg Rosenthal (June 19, 2012). "Schwartzes first Jewish brothers in NFL since 1923". NFL.com. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  12. Barnathan, Lee (May 2, 2012). "Browns pick Schwartz in NFL draft". Jewish Journal. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  13. Arnold Horween Elected. Harvard Alumni Bulletin. September 25, 1919. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  14. "Horween, Ralph". Archived from the original on March 17, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  15. "Ralph Horween Grave". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  16. "Ralph Horween". Chicago Tribune. May 28, 1997. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  17. Melveille E. Webb, Jr. (October 28, 1920). "Ralph Horween Ace in Harvard Kicking". Boston Daily Globe. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  18. Co-operation. 1950. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  19. Dale Richard Perelman (2012). Centenarians. ISBN 9781477217306. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  20. Ephraim Historical Foundation (2008). Ephraim. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738551968. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  21. Murray Greenberg (2008). Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football. PublicAffairs. p. 353. Retrieved March 22, 2013. Ralph Horween.
  22. Donald Grant Herring (1919). "Football; Princeton 10, Harvard 10". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  23. Bob Wechsler (2008). Day By Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 9780881259698. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  24. Frederick Sumner Mead (1921). Harvard's Military Record in the World War. Harvard Alumni Association. p. 478. Retrieved March 23, 2013. Ralph Horween.
  25. Harvard Wins from Oregon 7 to 6. Our Paper – Massachusetts Reformatory (Concord, Mass.). January 3, 1920. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  26. United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Navigation (1918). Navy directory: officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, also including officers of the United States Naval Reserve, active, Marine Corps Reserve, active, and foreign officers serving with the Navy. Govt. Printing Office. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  27. "Horween, Arnold". March 3, 2013. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  28. Jack Cavanaugh (2010). The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781616081102. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  29. The New York Times Biographical Service. New York Times & Arno Press. 1997. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  30. Ralph Goldstein (May 29, 1997). "Ralph Horween, 100, the Oldest Ex-N.F.L. Player". New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  31. Richard Goldstein (May 29, 1997). "Ralph Horween, 100, the Oldest Ex-N.F.L. Player". New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  32. Mark F. Bernstein (2001). Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812236270. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  33. "A League First: Former Player Turns 100". New York Times. August 4, 1996. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  34. Horween Leather Company. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  35. "Franchise history". Arizona Cardinals official site. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  36. Kevin Carroll (2007). Dr. Eddie Anderson, Hall of Fame College Football Coach: A Biography. McFarland. ISBN 9780786430079. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  37. John Maxymuk (2012). NFL Head Coaches: A Biographical Dictionary, 1920–2011. McFarland. ISBN 9780786465576. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  38. "Ralph Horween". Oldestlivingprofootball.com. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  39. Ralph Horween (1929). The Effect of Certain Types of State Statutes Upon the Criteria, in the Federal Courts, of the Adequacy of the Remedy at Law as a Basis for Federal Equity Jurisdiction. Law School of Harvard University. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  40. James Clark Fifield (1937). The American Bar. J.C. Fifield Company. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  41. Illinois Bar Journal. Vol. 28. Illinois State Bar Association. 1950. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  42. "Harvard Magazine". 100. Circulation Department. 1997. Retrieved March 22, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  43. Who's who in Michigan: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Men and Women of the Commonwealth. 1947. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  44. "Trial on Code Case Extended". The Milwaukee Journal. May 7, 1934. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  45. "Deaths; Ralph Horween". Toledo Blade. May 27, 1997. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  46. "Horween Appointed Oil Official". Wall Street Journal. October 13, 1934. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  47. World Oil. Gulf Publishing Company. 1934. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  48. Pacific Oil World. Petroleum Publishers. 1934. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  49. Ralph Horween (1939). What are the Essentials of Sound Oil Conservation Legislation for Illinois?. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  50. Illinois State Bar Association (1939). "Annual Report of the Illinois State Bar Association – Illinois State Bar Association". Interstate Print. Company. Retrieved March 22, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  51. "About « Horween Leather Company". Horween.com. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  52. Inside UVA. Office of Publications, University of Virginia. 1990. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  53. University of Virginia (2000). "The University of Virginia Record". Retrieved March 23, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  54. Chris Willis (2005). Old Leather: An Oral History of Early Pro Football in Ohio, 1920–1935. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810856608. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
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