Ed Franco

Infobox Pro Football player


Caption=Ed Franco c. 1936
Color=green
fontcolor=white
Name=Ed Franco
DateOfBirth=April 24, 1915
Birthplace=New York City, NY, US
DateOfDeath=November 18, 1992 (aged age|1915|4|24|1992|11|18)
Position=Offensive tackle
Offensive guard
College=Fordham University, New York
NFLDraftedYear=1938
NFLDraftedRound=5
NFLDraftedPick=31
(By the Cleveland Rams)
DatabaseFootball=FRANCED01
Career Highlights=Y
Awards=All-American, 2 positions
1980 College Football HOF
Records=
Retired #s=
Stats=Y
years=1944
teams=Boston Yanks
CollegeHOF=30029

Edmondo Guido Armando Franco (April 24, 1915 - November 18, 1992) was a professional American football player. He earned fame as one of the legendary Seven Blocks of Granite and played professionally for the Boston Yanks. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980.

Early life

Ed Franco was the youngest of nine children born to Italian immigrants, Nicola and Filomena Franco, on Christopher Street, in New York City. The family later moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, where Franco began to display his extraordinary athletic ability. He earned All-State honors at William L. Dickinson High School as both guard for the football team and catcher for baseball. [ [http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=30029 Ed "Devil Doll" Franco] , College Football Hall of Fame. Accessed July 22, 2007. "Ed Franco came from Dickinson High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Fordham."]

Seven Blocks of Granite College Football Fame

After high school, Ed "Devil Doll" Franco attended Fordham University where he was elected president of his freshman class. He played guard and tackle for the legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite," coached by the "Sleepy" Jim Crowley, one of the famed Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. The 5-8, 196-pound Franco was voted as a consensus All-American for both positions following the 1937 and 1938 seasons. He played alongside the famous Vince Lombardi, who played right guard for the Blocks of Granite. In 1935 the Rams posted a 6-1-2 record with five shutouts. The 1936 squad lost only one game, the season final to New York University. The Blocks saw their peak in 1937 with 8 wins, no losses, no ties. Franco also served as captain of the East team in the 1938 East-West Shrine Game.

Post Professional Football Career

Franco had a brief professional career: He was a 5th round selection (31st overall) of the Cleveland Rams in the 1938 NFL Draft, but didn't stay with the team. On December 9, 1939, Franco married his sweetheart Anna May McGinley, a nursing student at Bayonne Nursing School. Franco decided not to continue his professional career, however, since football, in that day, paid little compared to the well-compensated NFL players of today. Franco returned to Fordham as a line coach for six years, where he helped the Rams get a Cotton Bowl bid in 1941 and a Sugar Bowl bid in 1942. In 1944 he returned to the NFL and won the starting tackle job in his first game as a member of the Boston Yanks. Franco worked as the eastern scout for the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins along with coach and close friend Lombardi. He later owned several successful businesses in Jersey City and Secaucus and worked for the Meadowlands Racetrack. In 1980, Ed Franco was finally honored for his achievements in football by being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. That same year, Franco was also honored with a Jersey City baseball park in his name, which is still in use today. He died on November 18, 1992 at the age of 77. He is survived by his three children, Margaret, Ned, and Rosemary, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

References

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDD1F3EF933A15752C1A964958260 "New York Times" obituary]