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Your first 1000 yard rusher? (1 Viewer)

Z

ZenoRazon

Footballguy
The first NFL 1000 yard rusher was a cat named Beattie Feathers, who in 1934 gained 1004 yards  with a gaudy 9.9 yards a carry, he was a Chicago Bear. It would take another 13 seasons before we saw another 1000 yard season, this time an ordinary 4.6 average,

Obviously every team has their first 1000 yard rusher, this thread is about that.

He was a cornerback at Prairie View, my Niners brought him in, he couldn't hang, so they dumped him.  The team that picked him up made a RB out of him, he went on to have a great career and became their first 1000 yard rusher?  Who?

This cat was a long jumper/RB in the Ivy League, once in the NFL he became the first 1000 yard rusher for his franchise, who?

This guy never played college football, he went straight from HS into the pro game, he could also kick.  He was not only the first 1000 yard rusher for a franchise. he was also the first1000 yard rusher in league history, who?

The guy played JC ball only, but had a few firsts once in the NFL, one was the first 1000 yard rusher for his franchise, who?

This bullish runner was the first 1000 yard rusher for two teams, who?

He stood about 5-6ish, a stumpy looking guy but the first 1000 yard rusher for his franchise, who?

Nuff~~~~~~~~

A little about myself, I'm a roots music, the rasslin', football and track history buff. yep, a geek.  If talking them good old days isn't cool here, just say so and ..poof!..no more.  I just need it all, that depth in things that interest me, that reservoir of knowledge (I can't change my own oil🙄)

 
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ZenoRazon said:
A little about myself, I'm a roots music, the rasslin', football and track history buff. yep, a geek.  If talking them good old days isn't cool here, just say so and ..poof!..no more.  I just need it all, that depth in things that interest me, that reservoir of knowledge (I can't change my own oil🙄)
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I don't know how the mods feel, and can't guarantee your audience  -- or even our own competence with respect to what you want to discuss -- as this is more current fantasy football stuff, but I personally thought your world class speed thread was interesting. This thread is cool, too, though I'd have to google the players, and that's cheating, so I got nobody for you this time around.  

Anyway, welcome man. The FFA is the place for roots music and rasslin' and I can assure you you'll find some serious music history buffs and rasslin' heads over there. It's sort of a tight community, the music community, and we formed a draft and had our own fantasy football league this year. 

 
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ZenoRazon said:
The first NFL 1000 yard rusher was a cat named Beattie Feathers, who in 1934 gained 1004 yards  with a gaudy 9.9 yards a carry, he was a Chicago Bear. It would take another 13 seasons before we saw another 1000 yard season, this time an ordinary 4.6 average,
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This is also a stock trivia question for me. I’ve always found Feathers fascinating. He did what he did at a time guys were plowing into the line in the worst conditions. That 1934 Bears team was one of the best of all time, 13-0. They threw for 16 TDs, their opponents had 2. They averaged 5.0 ypc, including Bronko Nagurski and Cliff Battles, and piled up 2,847 rushing yards and 20 rushing TDs. Truly an awesome team, problem is they lost the NFL Championship to the the 8-5 Giants, basically this kind of thing wouldn’t be seen again until the Giants did it again against the 17-0 Patriots in 2007. The Bears were predictably winning 13-3 in the 4th and then gave up 27 straight points in the last frame. No idea what happened in the disastrous last quarter of one of the best seasons ever.

 
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The real question is, how many of us rode Mr. Feathers to a title, and what was his ADP the following season?

😛

Love a good historical romp like this thread could be.  May have to look up my own favorite team’s first if it comes to that.  There are a few I can come up with off the top of the head though:

Baltimore Ravens:  Priest Holmes

Jacksonville:  Fred Taylor

Thought I knew Houston Texans too, but turns out I was wrong.  Anyone else want to take a stab at that one?

 
ZenoRazon said:
He was a cornerback at Prairie View, my Niners brought him in, he couldn't hang, so they dumped him.  The team that picked him up made a RB out of him, he went on to have a great career and became their first 1000 yard rusher?  Who?
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The guy who fits this is Clem Daniels for the Raiders, problem is he was with the 9ers at the end of his career not the beginning of it. 

 
:popcorn:

Depends on your meaning but I'll go with Eddie George. 

We would also accept Charley Tolar.

 
-OZ- said:
Mostly beat me in FF. I could be misremembering but I think he beat me in the playoffs or knocked me out of the playoffs two years in a row. 
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I figured that was the case. My bugaboo is Jamaal Charles. That guy nuked me twice.  

 
I do know that Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris were the first teammates to run for 1,000.  I remember Morris had 991 and - due to a stat correction? - was bumped to an even 1,000.  Interestingly, Jim Kiick ran for over 500 yards himself on that 1972 team.

 
rockaction said:
I don't know how the mods feel, and can't guarantee your audience  -- or even our own competence with respect to what you want to discuss -- as this is more current fantasy football stuff, but I personally thought your world class speed thread was interesting. This thread is cool, too, though I'd have to google the players, and that's cheating, so I got nobody for you this time around.  

Anyway, welcome man. The FFA is the place for roots music and rasslin' and I can assure you you'll find some serious music history buffs and rasslin' heads over there. It's sort of a tight community, the music community, and we formed a draft and had our own fantasy football league this year. 
Click to expand...
Thank you rockaction, I appreciate that.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
This is also a stock trivia question for me. I’ve always found Feathers fascinating. He did what he did at a time guys were plowing into the line in the worst conditions. That 1934 Bears team was one of the best of all time, 13-0. They threw for 16 TDs, their opponents had 2. They averaged 5.0 ypc, including Bronko Nagurski and Cliff Battles, and piled up 2,847 rushing yards and 20 rushing TDs. Truly an awesome team, problem is they lost the NFL Championship to the the 8-5 Giants, basically this kind of thing wouldn’t be seen again until the Giants did it again against the 17-0 Patriots in 2007. The Bears were predictably winning 13-3 in the 4th and then gave up 27 straight points in the last frame. No idea what happened in the disastrous last quarter of one of the best seasons ever.
Click to expand...
Great read and cool to see somebody else into the history of it all. The first NFL Thunder & Lighting, big brusing (NWA Wrestling Champion) Bronko Nagurski and the speedy Red "The Galloping Ghost" Grange.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
The guy who fits this is Clem Daniels for the Raiders, problem is he was with the 9ers at the end of his career not the beginning of it. 
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Hmmmm?   I'm usually pretty good with this stuff, can't see me missing this being a Niner fan.  I;m now thinking the Niners had some connection with him but failed to sign him, so off to Kansas City, then the Raiders.  Maybe not, am curious where I found that at.

 
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ZenoRazon said:
Great read and cool to see somebody else into the history of it all. The first NFL Thunder & Lighting, big brusing (NWA Wrestling Champion) Bronko Nagurski and the speedy Red "The Galloping Ghost" Grange.
Click to expand...
Some more info on that 1934 Championship game.

- Apparently they played in icy mush - and the Giants changed their cleats

 Generally, players from both sides have attributed the Giants' second half dominance to their selection of footwear. As Nagurski put it, "We immediately said something was wrong, because they suddenly had good footing and we didn't...they just out-smarted us." A mini-documentary of the game, narrated by Pat Summerall, can be seen in the 1987 video "Giants Among Men." NFL Films named the game the #8 bad weather game of all time.
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Here's news coverage from back in the day.

 
ZenoRazon said:
Hmmmm?   I'm usually pretty good with this stuff, can't see me missing this being a Niner fan.  I;m now thinking the Niners had some connection with him but failed to sign him, so off to Kansas City, then the Raiders.  Maybe not, am curious where I found that at.
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Well he wasn't drafted, so I could be the wrong one, maybe he first signed with the 9ers before moving on elsewhere. But he did finish in SF.

 
Without Googling, and just a guess because my Steelers’ history is rusty, but I’ll say John Henry Johnson.

 
Okay looked it up.  Spoiler space activated for my fellow (more knowledgeable Bengals tweeps).

Also accidentally left some good trivia in the spoiler space as well - for example what may be the rusher to lead a team in rushing with the LEAST yards ever.


 
Paul Robinson in their initial year with 1023 yards in 1968 - it was also his rookie year and I wonder how many rookies are on this list.

Wow he was a first team All-Pro that year.  Also went to the Pro Bowl in that year and in 1969.  Would be done after 1973 and ended up just short of 3000 yards for his career.

Now if you want to go first post-merger NFL season that would be Pete Johnson in 1981.  He led the Bengals in rushing an amazing 7 years in a row!
In researching this I may found a challenger for least amount of yards to ever lead a team in rushing. 

In 1974 Charlie Davis led the team with 375 yards rushing (!).  He had a total of 482 for his career only playing a total of 20 games.  Might be the lowest number of career yards ever for a guy who led his team in rushing as well.

1973 was another interesting year as they had two guys who combined for 1985 yards rushing with NEITHER over 1000 (Essex Johnson 997 and Boobie Clark 988) perhaps Paul Brown was economizing on bonuses? ;)

-QG


 
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pecorino said:
Without Googling, and just a guess because my Steelers’ history is rusty, but I’ll say John Henry Johnson.
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You got it.   He gets forgotten because of Jim Brown/Jim Taylor, he was the third best  RB (actually a FB) in the NFL back then.

A HS decathlete.  He ran with a bad attitude.

 
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pecorino said:
The name Brooks comes to mind. I can distinctly envision his shoulder pads and jersey that seemed to always be getting ripped. 
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The guy was a 400m hurdler/RB out of U of Arizona.

Paul Robinson

Wiki

Robinson was chosen in the third round (82nd overall) of the 1968 NFL/AFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.[6]

In his first year as a professional, he gained 1,023 yards rushing to lead the league and scored eight touchdowns. He also caught 24 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown.[7] He was the second man to gain over 1,000 yards in his first year in professional football in the U.S., the first being Cookie Gilchrist.

Robinson is the only running back in professional football history to gain over 1,000 yards in a season for a first-year expansion team (the 1968 Cincinnati Bengal

James Brooks came later.  The guy thought he was a power back, just a little one, ha~~~

 
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