This from the HMRC is the only known photograph of Jess Neely goofing around:
Even more astonishing is line coach “Bloody Joe” Davis as the holder.
(That’s backfield coach Cecil Grigg, who has managed to retain more of his dignity, at left.)
Bonus:
This from the HMRC is the only known photograph of Jess Neely goofing around:
Even more astonishing is line coach “Bloody Joe” Davis as the holder.
(That’s backfield coach Cecil Grigg, who has managed to retain more of his dignity, at left.)
Bonus:
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The grass on the field looks like a putting green. The first thing that struck me as a young child going to football games — especially night games under the bright lights at collegiate stadiums – was the brilliant green of the playing surface with clean white chalk lines across them. It was overwhelming. The next thing, once the game started, was crowd noise. I was overwhelmed by the whole experience, but never frightened. I was a fan from that point on. (My first big game that I remember was the Arkansas-A&M game at Kyle Field in October 1956. I was 6-years old.)
You really know how to hurt a guy, Melissa. The 1959 season was during my senior year, and Rice won a total of one game, which they should have lost, 2-0. Gordon Speer returned a punt for a touchdown on a miserable cold and windy day, but a clip by Rice was not called. Gordon also punted a ball straight up that went backwards for a safety, and he kicked Rice’s extra point. His favorite football story is that he scored all of the points in that game.
Three great men. Coach Grigg sometimes joined us for coffee in the RMC. He had some great stories of his pro career. I visited him in the hospital toward the end of his life.
Coach Griggs played with the great Jim Thorpe.
When and where?
I tried to find overlap in their playing careers, and they appeared to have just missed each other. The records could be wrong.
Playing with Grigg might be one of the reasons why Thorpe’s signature is on the Coaches Table in the R-Room.
Grigg & Thorpe played together on the 1919 & 1920 Canton (Ohio) Bulldogs:
https://www.profootballarchives.com/1919can.html
https://www.profootballarchives.com/1920apfacan.html
Here’s a link to a profile of Grigg written by longtime Rice Sports Information Director, Bill Whitmore:
https://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/27-03-1075.pdf
It says that Grigg and Thorpe played together for four years, which seems to be incorrect. While Grigg played for Canton 1919-23 (and elsewhere through 1928), Thorpe played for the Bulldogs in 1915-17 & 1919-20 … and elsewhere through 1928, never again on the same team as Grigg.
https://www.profootballarchives.com/players/g/grig00400.html
https://www.profootballarchives.com/players/t/thor03600.html
The profootballarchives site shows that Grigg and Thorpe also played against each other five times:
Nov. 19, 1921 – Canton (Grigg) won 7-0 vs. Cleveland Tigers
Oct. 15, 1922 – Canton (Grigg) won 14-0 vs. Oorang Indians
Nov. 18, 1923 – Canton (Grigg) won, 41-0 vs Oorang Indians
Nov. 11, 1925 – Rochester (Grigg) lost, 0-13 vs New York Giants
Nov. 2, 1926 – New York Giants (Grigg) tied 7-7 vs Canton Bulldogs.
BTW, the Oorang team was more novelty than serious, its owner having created it to promote his Oorang Airedale dog kennels. (https://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/03-01-057.pdf)
The team was still notable, however, for 1) having an all-Indian (Native American) roster … 2) being headquartered in the smallest-ever town to have an professional sports team in the U.S. (LaRue, Ohio – northwest of Columbus, population less than 1,000 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaRue,_Ohio) … and 3) was considered by some to have pioneered entertaining halftime shows (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halftime_show).