Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Ed Danowski
played at Riverhead High School, which is (way) out on Long Island (at the "confluence" of the Twin Forks, in Suffolk County), then at Fordham U., then on the NY Giants

Vince Lombardi (a stretch)
played at St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, then at Fordham, then later on the minor league Brooklyn Eagles

Paul Governali
played at Evander Childs High in the Bronx, at Columbia University. His 2nd NFL team was the NY Giants.

Dave Myers
played at Stuyvesant High in Manhattan, on NYU's team, and on the Staten Island Stapletons, then the Brooklyn Dodgers of the NFL (also on barnstorming black teams based in the city)

There were also players like Lou Gehrig who played football in HS and college in NY, but baseball as a pro

Wayne Chrebet
Garfield HS (New Jersey)
Hofstra
NY Jets

Not to go nuts on New Jersey but if it counts as part of New York City area:
Ray Lucas
Harrison HS (NJ), Rutgers, NY Jets much of his career

Bob Beattie
Manual Training HS in Brooklyn
Princeton University
1st NY Yankees (NFL), Orange Tornadoes, Newark

OK, that is a bit obscure and has a lot of Jersey included. I'll stop there.

I came across a Chicago one not mentioned before:
Chuck Apolskis
Fenger High (Chicago)
DePaul University (Chicago)
7 seasons on Bears and Chicago Cardinals

Was he mentioned already?:
Chuck Bednatik
Bethlehem HS,
Penn, Bethlehem is 50 miles north of Philly.
Eagles

Getting obscure now,
George Somers, from St. Clair High School in Fountain Springs, Pennsylvania, played football at La Salle University in Philly and then two years with Eagles after veing drafted 1939 by them

Now I left out Ken Strong even though West Haven High is probably closer to New York than Riverhead and Somerville. (NYU, NY Giants, NY Yankees#2)

John Schmitt - Wantagh HS (another of those Island schools,) Hofstra, NY Jets (Super Bowl) later, after 10 years, it was over...
he ended his career with the farm club in Brown County
But life was always good to John. He lost his Super Bowl ring on the beach in Hawaii. Later, it was found and returned.

oldecapecod 11 wrote:John Schmitt - Wantagh HS (another of those Island schools,) Hofstra, NY Jets (Super Bowl) later, after 10 years, it was over...
he ended his career with the farm club in Brown County
But life was always good to John. He lost his Super Bowl ring on the beach in Hawaii. Later, it was found and returned.

And Joe Namath once dated his babysitter. Sorry, I always think of that then Schmidt's name comes up. I think he talked about in a clip on "Full Color Football."

Was Tom Fears mentioned?
He played at Manual Arts in LA, And UCLA (as well as Santa Clara), then the Rams.

John Brodie
Techical HS (Oakland), Stanford, Niners

Jim Plunkett
Overfelt HS & James Lick HS (both San Jose)
Stanford
Raiders (And Niners)

Regan Upshaw
Pittsburgh HS (Cal) a suburb north of Oakland
Cal-Berkeley
3 years played for Raiders (out of 9)

Bob St. Clair
Polytechnic HS (San Francisco)
U of San Francisco (and U of Tulsa after USF dropped football)
49ers

Elmer Collett
Tamalpais High (Mill Valley, north of Sausalito, a SF suburb)
San Francisco State
49ers

out there:
Tony Calvelli
Stockton High (60 miles to San Francisco, though the WP Railroad may have been shorter)
College of San Mateo & Stanford
The AAFC 49ers one year

OJ Simpson
Galileo HS in San Francisco
City College of San Francisco, before USC
2 years with 49ers

Tom Flores
Sanger HS (this is in the Valley, south of Stockton, not really a part of Oakland-SF area_
U of Pacific (and Fresno City College)
Oakland Raiders

Kurt Sohn played at
Huntington High (in Nassau County)
Nassau Community College and Fordham (and NC State)
New York Jets for 7 seasons

In addition to NCC, others that played football unmentioned before (in New York area):
CCNY which had many play in NFL
Brooklyn College who had more than Iona in NFL (by one, a famous one) [also Howard Cosell]
St. Peter's and Seton Hall in New Jersey
St. John's in two eras.
Adelphi and NYIT (who had a recruiting scandal in late 1970s/early 80s)

OK, Pratt and Brooklyn Poly haven't played in a 100 years, but more than most realize [well, most barely know Fordham plays now]

by Ronfitch » Sun Mar 22, 2015 6:35 pm
"And Joe Namath once dated his babysitter. Sorry, I always think of that then Schmidt's name comes up. I think
he talked about in a clip on 'Full Color Football.'"

Schmitt, Ron, no "d" - Joe Namath might have dated anyone's babysitter.
'Course Joe was well known in Wantagh - a star of stage if not screen.
In July, 1981, a production of Damn Yankees was performed at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY.
This performance was notable due to former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath being cast in the role of Joe Boyd.
But, this is about John, not Joe.
At the time John entered college, September 1960, he was married to or ready to marry his high school sweetheart.
He also had offers to attend schools much larger than "small college" Hofstra - as they were then designated, I believe.
Coach Howdy Myers had a plan. He recruited John's wife/wife-to-be and told John he could be with her if he did not
"go away" to school. Schmitt chose Hofstra. Myers was also a long-time friend of Weeb Ewbank and convinced him
to give John a chance.
Schmitt centered the Jets line for 10 years at about 290. He was a 225 2-way tackle in college - maybe less.

Marcus Allen in So Cal.
HS in San Diego, College at USC and 1st half if career with the Los Angeles Raiders.

JuggernautJ wrote:Marcus Allen in So Cal.
HS in San Diego, College at USC and 1st half if career with the Los Angeles Raiders.

That clip of his TD run while in HS that's shown on his "A Football Life" episode is great.

by JuggernautJ » Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:23 pm
"Marcus Allen in So Cal.
HS in San Diego, College at USC and 1st half if career with the Los Angeles Raiders."

Thanx, J. I felt guilty posting John Schmitt because he spent his final season in Green Bay but now that cloud is gone.
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I'm okay with both the Islands, Folks, Long and Staten, as part of New York but New Jersey is stretching it a bit much.
Remember the immortal words of Max Baer, "After New York, everything else is just Bridgeport."
Jersey is okay if you wanna dump trash, get rid of a body, or need a car crushed but - it is not New York.

rockhawk wrote:Most of Curly Lambeau's football career (player, coach, manager) was all in Green Bay with the exception of one year at Notre Dame.

Lisle Blackbourn also coached nearby (at Lawrence University and Marquette) before coaching the Packers, although he never played in Green Bay.

I believe the only post-Lambeau Packer to have played college ball in the Fox Valley area is RB/KR Larry Krause, who went to St. Norbert College in West DePere, about six miles from Green Bay. Krause attended high school in Greenwood, about 150 miles west of G.B.