Rube Ursella

[RyanChristiansen]

In NFL Head Coaches: A Biographical Dictionary, 1920-2011 by John Maxymuk, the author mentions that Ursella did not attend college but "The University of Minnesota's football media guide lists Ursella as one of the Golden Gophers who went on to play in the NFL, however, he is not listed as a letterman."

I confirmed this information. In the 2021 media guide, the Gophers list Ursella as a player who went on to play in the NFL, but he isn't listed anywhere else in the media guide. I contacted media relations at the University of Minnesota and asked what year Ursella participated in football there. The assistant director got back to me. He said Ursella is not listed on any roster going back to 1890.

Further research indicates Ursella was a "student soldier" during World War I and he served with Training Detachment 9 at the University of Minnesota Farm School. He played baseball on a service team for the Farm School, against other service teams. It's not clear whether he was ever officially registered at the University.

I shared the following information with the Gophers media relations people:

In 1954, in an interview with Minneapolis Star staff writer Halsey Hall, Ursella said, "Never did get a chance to go to college, would now if I had it to do over again. That would be nice."

In 1929, Minneapolis sportswriter George A. Barton wrote, "Ursella would have been welcomed by any college team from 1910 until 1916, but Ruby never had any yen for college life."

Also in 1929, the Madison Wisconsin State Journal stated, "The Rube has no sheepskin; he never went to college. As a matter of fact, if he has a high school diploma, nobody has ever seen it. But he can play football."

The assistant director has told me he expects the Gophers will be removing Ursella from their media guide for 2022.

[RichardBak]

There was a lot of that back then. Nobody really cared enough to look into such claims, just took them at face value. So it would get picked up and repeated over and over again in newspapers, media guides, books, etc. I remember Van Patrick used to tell people that he played college ball with Sammy Baugh. The "Ol' Announcer" was full of crap but nobody ever called him on it.

[RyanChristiansen]

There was a lot of that back then. Nobody really cared enough to look into such claims, just took them at face value. So it would get picked up and repeated over and over again in newspapers, media guides, books, etc. I remember Van Patrick used to tell people that he played college ball with Sammy Baugh. The "Ol' Announcer" was full of crap but nobody ever called him on it.

In this case, it's not clear who said Ursella belonged in the Gophers media guide. Ursella never claimed to have played college ball. I wonder how long Ursella has been listed in their media materials?