Ed Sprinkle, “Meanest Man in Football,” dies at 90

[StillMadAtSlobber]

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 5, 2014, 6:59 PM EDT


Ed Sprinkle, a Chicago Bears defensive end in the 1940s and 1950s who was dubbed “The Meanest Man in Football,” has died at the age of 90.

Sprinkle was handed the “Meanest Man” moniker by Collier’s magazine in a 1950 article, and reading about Sprinkle in 2014 feels like taking a time machine to a distant past in which even Ndamukong Suh would think the game was getting too violent.

From a 1949 Chicago Tribune article: “After the game, [Chicago Cardinals] Coach Buddy Parker charged that Ed Sprinkle, Bears’ end, deliberately stomped on Elmer Angsman, star right halfback. Reached at his home last night, Angsman corroborated his coach’s stand and said he has five cleat marks on his chest.”

The Associated Press quoted Hall of Fame Philadelphia Eagles coach Earle (Greasy) Neal as saying after another game, “Action should be taken against Sprinkle for his illegal use of arms. Unless something is done about it, we’ll take matters into our own hands.”

The Los Angeles Times gave this account of a Rams-Bears game: “The Ram attack was weakened consid-erably in the third quarter when fullback Dick Hoerner suffered a slight concussion after assertedly being worked over by the notorious Bear end, Ed Sprinkle. Hoerner was taken to Queen of Angels hospital for observation.”

Sprinkle denied that he was a dirty player, but he did enjoy the physical nature of football.

“I never really played dirty football in my life,” Sprinkle said. “But I’d knock the hell out of a guy if I got the chance.”

Sprinkle was only 6-foot-1 and 207 pounds, but George Halas, the founder and longtime coach of the Bears, said he never saw a more intimidating pass rusher.

“Every team in the league has a passer who can beat you if you give him time to throw,” Halas said in 1950. “The only way you can stop passers like Baugh of Washington and Waterfield of Los Angeles is to rush them — knock them down before they throw. That’s where Sprinkle shines. He’s the greatest pass-rusher I’ve ever seen. Don’t forget, every time Sprinkle rushes the passer, the other team has at least two men blocking him. Sometimes it’s three when a guard pulls out of the line to help the tackle and halfback. . . . He’s got to push and shove and claw his way past those blockers, and if somebody gets an unintentional whack in the nose now and then, well, that’s football.”

That was football as Ed Sprinkle played it.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/05/ed-sprinkle-meanest-man-in-football-dies-at-90/

[StillMadAtSlobber]

This is a link to the original Colliers article referenced above

http://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1950nov25-00017?View=PDFPages

[StillMadAtSlobber]

Last Living Member of Chicago Bears 1946 Championship Team Has Died
Ed Sprinkle, of Palos Heights, earned a reputation as "the meanest man in football" for his hard-hitting ways.
By Dennis Robaugh August 5, 2014 at 5:59 pm 0
Last Living Member of Chicago Bears 1946 Championship Team Has Died

Chicago Bears great Ed Sprinkle, called “the greatest pass rusher I’ve ever seen” by none other than George Halas, died in Palos Heights last week.

The last living member of the Chicago Bears 1946 Championship team, Sprinkle passed away on July 28 at the age of 90.

A defensive end, Sprinkle earned his nickname “the Claw” by flattening quarterbacks with his powerful forearm — a move now barred in the NFL. Sprinkle, who wore No. 7, played for the Bears from 1944 to 1955, going to four Pro Bowls. He was named All Pro seven times and is on the NFL’s all-decade team for the 1940s.

“He was a real rough-and-tumble guy who made a name for himself around the league with just how competitive a player he was,” said Bears Chairman George McCaskey on ChicagoBears.com.

Sprinkle played in an era without facemasks and was dubbed the “meanest man in football” in a Collier’s magazine article in which he explained his tactics.

“If somebody gets an unintentional whack in the nose now and then — well, that’s football,” George Halas told Collier’s.

Hall of Fame fullback Hugh McElhenny, of the San Francisco 49ers, told The New York Times in 1985 that Sprinkle’s tackles were quite memorable.

“Sprinkle would drive you 10 yards out of bounds and the official would be taking the ball away from you, but Sprinkle would still be choking you,” McElhenny said.

Sprinkle said he was no different than any of the other guys on the football field in that era.

“I don’t know where it started. I hit guys. I never stood around. Sometimes they interpreted that as being mean instead of being tough,” Sprinkle told the Palos Regional News in 2012. “Halas tried to defend me. He said I wasn’t a dirty player. I was mean as everyone out there.”

In the offseason, he ran a strawberry farm and worked for Inland Steel.

He was inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.

“He loved playing football and his whole career he never went to another football team,” said his daughter Susan Withers.

After football, Sprinkle was in the carpeting and tile business. He coached with the New York Titans in 1962, the team that would later become the New York Jets.

Sprinkle’s dad was a Texas farmer and his mom was a schoolteacher. He was born on Sept. 3, 1923 in Tuscola, TX. His senior class in high school had just 13 students, and he was one of only two boys.

His mom encouraged him to attend college, and he went to Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, where he started playing football.

“She wanted to make sure I went to college. It was a good thing for me, otherwise I’d have ended up working on a farm,” Sprinkle said in a feature story published for his 89th birthday in his hometown newspaper.

He attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and then was lured to the Chicago Bears. He signed a contract that paid him $200 a game.

His wife Marian passed away in 2003. Sprinkle is survived by his daughter, Susan, and his sons Alan and Steven, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Sprinkle wore his NFL Championship ring every day.

http://patch.com/illinois/palos/last-living-member-chicago-bears-1946-championship-team-has-died

[Legacy User]

I remember highlights of Sprinkle. Back in the days of 13 cable channels I didn't miss NFL films presents...Van Buren, Jim Parker, Concrete Chuck, the Mad Bomber, Matson years before the cowboys started scouting Olympians, Bobby Layne leading parades half shitty, Fat Art, violent world of Sam Huff, Stautner and Schmitt, Marchetti...

It's kind of freaky to think of 13 year olds of today looking at the 70's PS from that perspective. Part of the reason I can see this team getting a bump from Chuck and MJG this year....

[StillMadAtSlobber]

Sounds like Lambert before Lambert.

[Nick79]

"Sprinkle was handed the “Meanest Man” moniker by Collier’s magazine in a 1950 article, and reading about Sprinkle in 2014 feels like taking a time machine to a distant past in which even Ndamukong Suh would think the game was getting too violent."

Even what happened in 1970s high school games would make you think that today.

[Legacy User]

Got to love Papa Halas's quote....the more things change...