Steve Jubyna

[Ralph Hay]

Long time member; first post.

I'd like to inform the membership of the death of Steve Jubyna: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/st ... =199369225
I don't know whether he was a member or not. If you google his name you will find he had a supporting role as an "historian" or "researcher" who helped identify several little known players from the early days of the NFL.

But beyond these tidbits he was the primary source behind the research of the now defunct Oldest Living Pro Football Players site (still available using the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/201708291638 ... ps/forums/; getting around the pages of the site is a bit clunky, but I believe all the information is preserved). It wasn't his site but he provided almost all of the information in the forum sections regarding the correct identities of early NFL players who were once just names in a box score. He also did all the work in the Necrology Section of this site which lists the birth and death dates of all NFL players up through 2017. A massive amount of work. In addition to this basic listing he also provided additional background information on numerous players, mostly from the 20s and 30's.

I do not believe he provided much, if any information to the various print encyclopedias published over the years, nor to Pro Football Reference. I do know that Tod Maher has incorporated some of his findings in his Pro Football Archives. He conducted his research over many years for his own edification until about a year ago. It was an abiding interest of his.

I only engaged in email correspondence with him over the last several years about his research and he didn't share much about his background but he did pass along this:


I had initially been part of the baseball research group, headed by Lee Allen - the historian of the Baseball Hall of Fame - that did work on the first edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia. After a while, I decided that it would be good to do something similar for football, so I started tracking down old players and survivors of deceased players to get information, with the hope of contributing to something like the Baseball Encyclopedia. However, getting married and having 4 children left little time for serious research. However, when the Football Encyclopedia came out in 1996, I found many errors. I was in contact with a few people there, but was not impressed with their shoddy work, but didn't do anything further until I encountered the Oldestlivingprofootball website. I pointed out a few errors to Jim Zimmerman, and offered my assistance, which he welcomed. From that point on, I tried to confirm all the data listed on various sites, while correcting the errors. I was particularly disgusted by the replies from a few of those in charge, to the effect that 'bad data is better than no data at all', because when people see the bad data, they will contact the publishers to have it corrected. This is why that over 20 years later, people who never touched a football are listed as players, and guys who played 5 years are left out.


I'm unfamiliar with the tools and data that are now available online to genealogists and other researchers, so perhaps what he did was fairly standard. But he certainty impressed me with some of his finds. I'd like to share just a few of them
to give you a flavor of what he was able to unearth:


1. Ron Cullen - 1922 Milw - I wrote him before he died, and he said he never played pro ball. He was still playing at U of OK at that time. Box score lists
someone with similar name.


2. I noticed that one of the articles also had pictures of most of the Triangle players.....When I came to what should have been Wilkie Moody, he
was listed as Harold Moody....I started looking to see if there was a Harold Moody who would have fit the right profile. I found a high school
yearbook from Lancaster, Ohio, from 1918, which listed Harold Moody as captain of the football team. I started looking for newspaper
references to Harold Moody, and found several mentioning former Lancaster HS star now playing for the Dayton Triangles, after playing for
the Columbus Panhandles in the previous year. I tracked down an obituary in the Dayton Daily News of 06/02/76, which mentioned him having
played for the Triangles and Panhandles in the early NFL. I went back to the newspapers of the late teens and early '20's, and could find no references
to Wilkie (or Wilke) Moody. I can't believe that this went by undiscovered for all these years. I know Wilkie Moody was a legendary coach who at one
point was the oldest active college coach in the country, but he did not play pro football. Here's the data on Harold Moody:

Harold Dickson Moody - 1920 Columbus - attended Lancaster (OH) HS - b 11/03/1898, in London, OH, d 05/31/76 in Dayton, OH.


3. The 1926 Buffalo Rangers lists Augustus Van 'Gus' Edmondson, of Oklahoma, as a center. This guy had been a good lineman in college,
but not a center. I saw an article years ago that said the center for Buffalo was George Edmondson, who had pitched for
the Cleveland Indians in 1922, 1923, and 1924. I couldn't find anything further, but never totally disregarded it. I just reopened
my search, and found several articles that George Edmondson had been an excellent center in both high school and college. I
finally found the clincher in the Waxahachie (TX) Daily Light, of 10/08/1927, which had an article about him, including a mention
of him having played professional football for Buffalo in the previous year. Therefore, Van Edmondson needs to be removed, and here
is the data for George:

Edmondson, George Herman - 1926 Buf - attended Waxahachie HS, and Trinity (TX) College. He was born in Boz, TX, 05/18/1896, and
died in Waxahachie, TX, on 07/11/1973. It's strange to be able to add a guy who played close to 100 years ago to the 2-sport list.


4. Ken Crawford is listed on both major sites as having attended Miami (Ohio), then playing for 1920 Akron, 1921 Cincinnati, 1921 Hammond,
1923 Dayton, and 1925 Hammond. I don't think he played anywhere after college. I believe that the player was his older brother,
Vivian F 'Chief' Crawford. Chief is in the Miami Hall of Fame, and his plaque mentions that he played for the Akron Pros after college.
All references in Ohio papers of the early 1920's refer to the player as 'Chief'. In regard to the playing record, I've been able to
verify the time with Akron, Cincinnati, and Dayton. The 1921 Hammond is probably right, but I'm sure the 1925 Hammond belongs
to someone else. That person played a line position, whereas all the other records are for a back. Also, in the 1925
box score, Crawford is listed as being from Illinois. I don't have a lot of faith in those listings, but Walter 'Mush' Crawford,
who later played for the Bears, played for Illinois through mid-1924, so he would have been free to play pro ball in 1925., and
he was a lineman. Here is the data for 'Chief' Crawford:

Crawford, Vivian Fairchild 'Chief - attended Urbana (OH) HS, Miami (OH) U - b 02/11/1895 in Woodstock, OH,
d in Washington Court House, OH, 06/08/61.


5. Both PFA and PFR have Earl Ettenhaus as a member of 1921 Rochester. On one of my forums, I went
out of my normal comfort zone, and said no one by that name existed, and that I felt the only possibility
could be Carl G Ettingshaus of Perry, NY. However, I was still puzzled as to why some totally unknown guy
would appear in a pro game, without having a football background. Yesterday, I found what I think is a plausible
answer. In 1921, Carl Ettingshaus, age 19, was 6 feet, 7 inches tall, and weighed 330 lbs. I think someone encountered
him somewhere, and decided that a team as mediocre as Rochester would have nothing to lose by giving someone of
such monstrous proportions a tryout. Since he only appeared in one game, either he was so totally inept that there
was no second game, or Ettingshaus, who came from a wealthy family, might have been in bad physical shape, and
decided that it was not worth it to be pounded any further by smaller, tougher opponents. Whatever the case, I think
this bit of information makes his appearance relatively reasonable. I originally got the lead from his 1942 draft card,
which listed him as 6'7", and 380 lbs. I really thought someone at the draft card office was playing a joke, until I went back
to old newspapers, and found references to 'Tiny' Ettingshaus, along with his weight at the time. I realize this is not
concrete proof, but to me, it definitely makes sense of what happened.


Member or no, I think his work exemplifies the "Researchers" in this organization's name.

I couldn't let his passing go without saying something.

[RichardBak]

Thanks for posting this. I think we've all known guys like Steve---researchers/amateur historians who love doing the detective work and derive great satisfaction over "the thrill of a fact" but who are pretty obscure themselves.

Seems like Steve lived a pretty full life. May he Rest In Peace.

Love the "Tiny" Ettingshaus find. Good work and good deduction.

[TodMaher]

Sorry, to hear about his passing.

I do know that Tod Maher has incorporated some of his findings in his Pro Football Archives.

I had initially been part of the baseball research group, headed by Lee Allen - the historian of the Baseball Hall of Fame - that did work on the first edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia. After a while, I decided that it would be good to do something similar for football, so I started tracking down old players and survivors of deceased players to get information, with the hope of contributing to something like the Baseball Encyclopedia. However, getting married and having 4 children left little time for serious research. However, when the Football Encyclopedia came out in 1996, I found many errors. I was in contact with a few people there, but was not impressed with their shoddy work, but didn't do anything further until I encountered the Oldestlivingprofootball website. I pointed out a few errors to Jim Zimmerman, and offered my assistance, which he welcomed. From that point on, I tried to confirm all the data listed on various sites, while correcting the errors. I was particularly disgusted by the replies from a few of those in charge, to the effect that 'bad data is better than no data at all', because when people see the bad data, they will contact the publishers to have it corrected. This is why that over 20 years later, people who never touched a football are listed as players, and guys who played 5 years are left out.

Yes, I did incorporate his findings when he posted them on the Oldest Living Player website. But when that site ended in 2017 or so, he never contacted me about any new findings.
I guess by "Football Encyclopedia" he meant "Total Football."

[OldestLivingFootball]

Steve was a dear friend. We worked together for many years. He was the best, no question about it. He alone corrected hundreds and hundreds of player birth/death data. I would have to check my records, but we were down to just a couple of hundred players that needed to be checked, and that includes the old AFL teams.

He never received much appreciation or thanks for his work (he never looked for it) but it always bothered me that some of the people who are considered experts in this field never found the time to thank him for his efforts. Heck, they used his work, why not thank him. Perhaps now, people will start to understand the massive amount of work he did for this community.

There was nothing amateur about his work. He was a professional through and through.

The "Steve Jubyna Historian Award" would be nice...

He will be missed.

Jim Zimmerman