Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Every player listed below has been top five in career rushing yards at the end of a season since 1932:

Cliff Battles
Bronko Nagurski
Bob Campiglio
Dutch Clark
Doug Wycoff
Jim Musick
Glen Presnell
Clarke Hinkle
Swede Hanson
Ace Gutowsky
Tuffy Leemans
Steve Van Buren
Tony Canadeo
Marion Motley
Bob Hoernschmeyer
Joe Perry
Jim Brown
Rick Casares
Jim Taylor
John Henry Johnson
Don Perkins
Leroy Kelly
O.J. Simpson
Franco Harris
Walter Payton
John Riggins
Tony Dorsett
Eric Dickerson
Barry Sanders
Emmitt Smith
Curtis Martin
Jerome Bettis
LaDainian Tomlinson
Frank Gore
Adrian Peterson

Note that the current active rushing leader, Derrick Henry just passed 9,500 yards this past season. He is more than 4,400 yards away from reaching fifth all time in career rushing yards.

Yet another interesting list. Thanks for posting!
I had never heard of Campiglio until now. He was a teammate of Doug Wycoff so two Stapletons were in the 1932 top 5. Hoerschenmeyer was a surprise. I wouldn't have thought he was ever career top 5.

ChrisBabcock wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 1:35 pm Yet another interesting list. Thanks for posting!
I had never heard of Campiglio until now. He was a teammate of Doug Wycoff so two Stapletons were in the 1932 top 5. Hoerschenmeyer was a surprise. I wouldn't have thought he was ever career top 5.

Two players who were top five in rushing in a season on one team is great.

However, I should note that if individual rushing yardage totals were available before 1932 that Red Grange would also likely have been top five career rise at one point as he started in 1925 and his first five seasons don’t have rushing yard totals.

ChrisBabcock wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 1:35 pm Yet another interesting list. Thanks for posting!
I had never heard of Campiglio until now. He was a teammate of Doug Wycoff so two Stapletons were in the 1932 top 5. Hoerschenmeyer was a surprise. I wouldn't have thought he was ever career top 5.

Campiglio, in fact, was listed as the 1932 rushing leader for years. Stats from the old days weren't readily available in those days, of course. But whenever I'd find a book that showed annual leaders in various categories, Campiglio always showed up as the first guy on the list. At some point, in a book about Hall of Famers or something, I did see Cliff Battles' year-by-year rushing record, and it seemed odd that he was credited with 70 more yards in 1932 than Campiglio. I figured it was a typo.

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 2:00 pm However, I should note that if individual rushing yardage totals were available before 1932 that Red Grange would also likely have been top five career rise at one point as he started in 1925 and his first five seasons don’t have rushing yard totals.

Sure, Grange might have cracked the list. Even better bets: Paddy Driscoll, Tony Latone, Ernie Nevers.

Bob Gill wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 2:09 pm

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2024 2:00 pm However, I should note that if individual rushing yardage totals were available before 1932 that Red Grange would also likely have been top five career rise at one point as he started in 1925 and his first five seasons don’t have rushing yard totals.

Sure, Grange might have cracked the list. Even better bets: Paddy Driscoll, Tony Latone, Ernie Nevers.

Also possibly Tex Hamer.

Take this with a couple grains of salt, but here are the unofficial rushing leaders of pre-1932 seasons:

1920 = Dutch Sternaman, Decatur
1921 = Fritz Pollard, Akron
1922 = Jimmy Conzelman, Rock Island/Milwaukee & Hank Gillo, Racine (tie)
1923 = Tex Grigg, Canton
1924 = Tex Hamer, Frankford
1925 = Barney Wentz, Pottsville
1926 = Barney Wentz, Pottsville
1927 = Charley Rogers, Frankford
1928 = Benny Friedman, Detroit
1929 = Red Grange, Chicago
1930 = Chuck Bennett, Portsmouth
1931 = Red Grange, Chicago

Bryan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2024 5:05 pm Take this with a couple grains of salt, but here are the unofficial rushing leaders of pre-1932 seasons:

1920 = Dutch Sternaman, Decatur
1921 = Fritz Pollard, Akron
1922 = Jimmy Conzelman, Rock Island/Milwaukee & Hank Gillo, Racine (tie)
1923 = Tex Grigg, Canton
1924 = Tex Hamer, Frankford
1925 = Barney Wentz, Pottsville
1926 = Barney Wentz, Pottsville
1927 = Charley Rogers, Frankford
1928 = Benny Friedman, Detroit
1929 = Red Grange, Chicago
1930 = Chuck Bennett, Portsmouth
1931 = Red Grange, Chicago

Interesting. Where did you find these unofficial rushing leaders?

And does that source have accounts for passing and receiving?

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 12:24 pm Interesting. Where did you find these unofficial rushing leaders?

And does that source have accounts for passing and receiving?

Not sure if this was the source of the previous post, but there's a Coffin Corner article on this site that covers the rushing, receiving and passing leaders for 1920-31, or maybe '32. (I'd put a link to it here, but for some reason the main PFRA page wants me to sign in and the password that works for the forum apparently doesn't qualify.) Anyway, the article appeared in 1990, '91, '92 ... somewhere in there. All the stats in it come from David Neft's work.

Bob Gill wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 2:36 pm

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 12:24 pm Interesting. Where did you find these unofficial rushing leaders?

And does that source have accounts for passing and receiving?

Not sure if this was the source of the previous post, but there's a Coffin Corner article on this site that covers the rushing, receiving and passing leaders for 1920-31, or maybe '32. (I'd put a link to it here, but for some reason the main PFRA page wants me to sign in and the password that works for the forum apparently doesn't qualify.) Anyway, the article appeared in 1990, '91, '92 ... somewhere in there. All the stats in it come from David Neft's work.

Yes, I just added up totals of complete games/incomplete games in the Neft/Cohen encyclopedia and based the leaders on that information. Its not incredibly accurate, and it tends to create more questions than answer them....but I found it interesting nonetheless. The guys who put up the bigger yardage totals, sometimes even consistently putting up yardage, tended to be guys I never really heard of. Barney Wentz led the NFL (unofficially) in rushing two years in a row, yet I've never heard anything about him. I expected to be wowed by the RBs from that era who were put in the HOF...Nevers, Blood, Guyon, but they didn't really differentiate themselves. Red Grange has been criticized for not really being "all that" in the NFL, but he seemed to be doing pretty well by my estimate.

Also, in cross-referencing with Murray Olderman's "The Running Backs" book, he credits Grange with 1024 rushing yards in 1925, 961 in 1926 (in the AFL), and 762 in 1927, which would have been the most in all three of those seasons.