Hap Moran

NFL player


DateOfBirth=birth date|1901|7|31|mf=y
Birthplace=Belle Plaine, Iowa, United States
DateOfDeath=December 30 1994
Deathplace=New Milford, Connecticut, United States
College=Carnegie-Mellon, Grinnell College
Position=Halfback
years=1926-1927
1927
1928
1928-1933
teams=Frankford Yellow Jackets
Chicago Cardinals
Pottsville Maroons
New York Giants
DatabaseFootball=MORANHAP01"'

Francis Dayle "Hap" Moran (July 31 1901 - December 30 1994) was an American football running back for Carnegie Tech (1922), Grinnell College (1923 - 1925), the Frankford Yellow Jackets (1926), the Chicago Cardinals (1927), the Pottsville Maroons (1928), and the New York Giants (1929-1933). When he retired from the NFL in 1933, he held the league records for the longest run from scrimmage (91 yards against the Green Bay Packers on November 23 1930)Progression of NFL Records, by Ken Pullis, Professional Football Researchers Association, 2002, p.9] and most yards receiving in a single game (114 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 15 1933).Grid Graph, Anatomy of Two Records, by Steve Hirdt, Elias Sports Bureau [http://www.esb.com/] ] His 91-yard run remained a New York Giants record for 75 years until it was broken by Tiki Barber on December 31 2005.

Playing career

Although he eventually made his name in football, Moran was better known in high school for basketball. He was captain of the Iowa All-State team in 1920, and his team from Boone represented Iowa at the National Interscholastic Tournament at the University of Chicago, where he was named a High School All-American by Amos Alonzo Stagg. He was recruited by Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh primarily for basketball, but also played football. In the 1922 Carnegie-Notre Dame game, the Four Horsemen first formed up as a backfield under the coaching of Knute Rockne,"The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame", by James A. Peterson, Hinckley & Schmitt, Chicago, 1959] . Moran would also play against the Four Horsemen in their last game together in 1930, when the Notre Dame All-Stars faced the New York Giants in a charity game which raised $115,000 to benefit New York City's unemployed. [ [http://pages.prodigy.net/revmoran/giantsnd/Giants_vs_Notre_Dame_page1.htm Giants vs. Notre Dame] , as told by Barry Gottehrer in "The Giants of New York" obtained October 24, 2006]

In 1923 Moran returned to Iowa and played football and basketball for Grinnell College. As a passer his favorite receiver was Morgan Taylor, who won the first Gold Medal for the United States in the 1924 Olympics in Paris running the 400-meter hurdles. In 1926 Moran was hired by Frankford Yellow Jackets' Coach Guy Chamberlin, and his first professional game was against Akron, led by Fritz Pollard, the All-American from Brown University, one of the few black players in the NFL. Moran scored Frankford's only points of the game and earned a starting spot as halfback. Frankford won the NFL Championship that season, and Moran was their second high scorer.

Moran played the first part of the 1927 season with the Yellow Jackets and was then recruited by the Chicago Cardinals, primarily for his kicking skills. He was ranked second in the league for field goals and ninth for points after touchdowns that year. In 1928 he played in the backfield for the Pottsville Maroons with John McNally, better known as Johnny Blood. After New York Giants' lineman Steve Owen knocked himself unconscious trying to tackle Moran, the Giants invited him to join their team for the last game of the 1928 season. Moran stayed with the Giants for the next five seasons.

In 1930 Moran set the NFL record for the longest run from scrimmage,Progression of NFL Records, by Ken Pullis, Professional Football Researchers Association, 2002, p.9] in 1931 he was the Giants' scoring leader,New York Giants, 75 Years, by Jerry Izenberg, Tehabi Books, California, 1999, p.174] and in 1933 he set the NFL record for the most yards receiving in a single game.Grid Graph, Anatomy of Two Records, by Steve Hirdt, Elias Sports Bureau [http://www.esb.com/] ] After retiring from the NFL he played for the Paterson Panthers of the American Association [ [http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=afl35-41 ALL THOSE A.F.L.'S: N.F.L. COMPETITORS, 1935-1941] ] , and coached the Panthers in 1936. In his post-professional career he was a buyer for Western Electric, living in Sunnyside, Queens, New York and coaching a youth football team there.

External links

* [http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=moran Player Profile] at The Professional Football Researchers Association
* [http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/players.nsf/ID/00780118 NFL Player Stats]

Footnotes