Ed "Lucky" Cody NFL 1947-50

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John Grasso
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Location: Guilford, NY

Ed "Lucky" Cody NFL 1947-50

Post by John Grasso »

Piece of trivia I found while researching a 1947 Wilkes-Barre newspaper:

"Ed Cody, the Packer fullback, figures he should be a buddy of Jack "Lucky" Lohrke.
When Ed was at Boston College he passed up a visit to the Coconut Grove, the night
of the tragic fire there. Later he was watching a basketball game at Purdue when
he decided to go out for a smoke. He had just stepped off the bleachers when they
collapsed dangerously. "

(Coconut Grove nightclub fire occurred on 11/28/42 in Boston and killed 492.
Purdue bleachers collapsed on 2/25/47 killing 2 and injuring 150).

(Jack "Lucky" Lohrke was a major league baseball player from 1947-53 who survived
several close situations during World War II, was later bumped from a military
flight that crashed killing everyone on board and as a minor league player
was on a team bus where while he was en route was promoted to a higher
minor league team and got off the bus which subsequently crashed killing nine
and severely injuring the others.)
BD Sullivan
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Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 1:30 pm

Re: Ed "Lucky" Cody NFL 1947-50

Post by BD Sullivan »

John Grasso wrote:Piece of trivia I found while researching a 1947 Wilkes-Barre newspaper:

"Ed Cody, the Packer fullback, figures he should be a buddy of Jack "Lucky" Lohrke.
When Ed was at Boston College he passed up a visit to the Coconut Grove, the night
of the tragic fire there. Later he was watching a basketball game at Purdue when
he decided to go out for a smoke. He had just stepped off the bleachers when they
collapsed dangerously. "

(Coconut Grove nightclub fire occurred on 11/28/42 in Boston and killed 492)
Cody's "luck" was that B.C.'s bid for a national title collapsed the afternoon of the fire when they were blown out by Holy Cross in a monstrous upset. That ended any chance of a celebration at the Coconut Grove, which obviously saved the lives of the players. So it's kind of a stretch to say that they passed up a visit.
rhickok1109
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Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:57 am

Re: Ed "Lucky" Cody NFL 1947-50

Post by rhickok1109 »

I had a friend whose parents were killed in the Coconut Grove fire when he was very young. He was raised by an aunt and uncle.
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jeckle_and_heckle
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Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:26 pm

Re: Ed "Lucky" Cody NFL 1947-50

Post by jeckle_and_heckle »

Wondering: was Ed Cody visiting his alma mater the day the bleachers caught fire at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill?
"ROGER THAT"
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