Jack Jacobs

NFL player


DateOfBirth=August 7, 1919
Birthplace= Holdenville, OK
DateOfDeath=death date and age|1974|01|12|1919|08|7
Deathplace= Greensboro, NC
number=77
College=Oklahoma
Position=QB / RB
DraftedYear=1942
DraftedRound=2
DraftedPick=12
Awards=
Honors=
Records=
Retired #s=
ProBowls=
years=1942,1945
1946
1947-1949
1950-1954
teams=Cleveland Rams
Washington Redskins
Green Bay Packers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL)
DatabaseFootball=JACOBJAC01
PFR=JacoJa20
NFL=JAC740296
CFHOF=24&player=Jacobs,%20Jack%20(Indian%20Jack)

"Indian" Jack Jacobs (August 7, 1919 – January 12, 1974) was a Canadian Football League quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1950-1954), winning the Jeff Nicklin Memorial (MVP) Trophy in 1952, who was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. Though Jacobs did not invent the forward pass, he is widely recognized as one of the key figures in making the forward pass an integral part of professional football. His exciting passing game drew thousands of fans to Blue Bombers games, instigating the need for the city to build a larger stadium, Winnipeg Stadium (now called Canad Inns Stadium).

While with the Blue Bombers, Jacobs completed 709 of 1,330 passes for 11,094 yards and at that time the all-time leading passer for the Western Interprovincial Football Union, the predecessor for the CFL's West Division. In 1951 Jacobs became the first professional football player to throw for 3,000 yards in a season with 3,248. Also that season he was first player to throw for 30 touchdowns with 33. The next season Jacobs threw 34 touchdowns and amassed 2,586 aerial yards. In an era of passing that very often saw quarterbacks with more interceptions than touchdowns, Jacobs had 104 touchdown passes to only 53 interceptions.

In 1955, he was a scout for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and later, was a coach for the London Lords of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) for two seasons. Jacobs also worked as an assistant coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos.

Jacobs also played quarterback, defensive back, tailback, halfback, punter in the National Football League with the Cleveland Rams (1942-1945), the Washington Redskins (1946) and the Green Bay Packers (1947-1949) and led the league in punting in 1947 before coming to the CFL.

Winnipeg Stadium, built in 1953, was nicknamed "The House That Jack Built" because of Jacobs' contribution to the success of the team. Previously the team played its home games at Osborne Stadium, across Osborne Street from the Manitoba Legislative Buildings where the Great-West Life Insurance Company has its head office. Since Jacobs' time, the CFL has become known for its fast, wide-open passing game, a feature that distinguishes it from the more run-dominated National Football League.

Jacobs was twice a Grey Cup finalist, was named the all-western quarterback twice, and was one of the original inductees to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in June 1963. With Jacobs as their starting quarterback the Bombers compiled a record of 46 wins, 27 losses and three ties. They lost the Grey in 1950 to the Toronto Argonauts (13 to 0) and again in 1953 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (12 to 6). Jacobs died in 1974 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He was also inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977, and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 2004. Several records he set while at the University of Oklahoma still stand.

He was popularly known as "Indian Jack" because he was a Creek man, at a time when the use of such terminology was not seen as offensive.

He was also an actor who played a professional football player in the 1948 movie, "Triple Threat".

External links

* [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JACOBJAC01 NFL stats]
* [http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/2004/jJacobs.htm Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame profile]
*imdb|0414308

References

* "Who's Who in Canadian Sport" by Bob Ferguson (3rd edition, Sporting Facts Publications, Ottawa, 1999), ISBN 1-894282-00-0.
* "CFL Facts, Figures and Records" 1985 to 2007 Canadian Football League