Role American football player Positions Tackle, Center Name Jack Depler Weight 99.8 kg | College Illinois Height 1.78 m Died December 5, 1970 | |
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Date of birth (1899-01-06)January 6, 1899 Date of death December 5, 1970(1970-12-05) (aged 71) 1922–1928 Columbia Lions (assistant) Education University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | ||
Place of birth Lewistown, Illinois Place of death Lewistown, Illinois | ||
John Charles Depler (January 6, 1899 – December 5, 1970) was a professional football player and coach. Prior to his professional career, he played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team of the University of Illinois. There he helped lead Illinois to its second national championship in 1919, and earned first-team All-American honors in 1920. After graduation, Depler played for the Hammond Pros of the National Football League (NFL). The following year, he was hired as an assistant coach to Frank "Buck" O'Neill, at Columbia University, where he stayed for the next eight seasons.
In 1929, Depler rejoined the NFL as a player-coach with the Orange Tornadoes. In following season, he bought the Dayton Triangles and relocated the team to Brooklyn, New York, with the help of Bill Dwyer, an early Prohibition gangster and bootlegger. Depler was now the co-founder and coach of the NFL's new Brooklyn Dodgers. He took most of the members of the 1929 Tornadoes with him for the new Dodgers team.
After a successful first season, little went right for the club. After the team's second season, Depler resigned as coach and the team was sold to Chris Cagle and Shipwreck Kelly.