Morris Blumenthal

Blumenthal played college ball for Northwestern in 1921 and went on to play in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals in 1925. Blumenthal was declared ineligible at Northwestern prior to the 1922 season and the Chicago Tribune declared, "Gloom of the deepest kind spread over the Northwestern campus among football enthusiasts...[Blumenthal] had been counted upon as one of the backfield mainstays."

Birth and Death Dates:
b. November 19, 1901 - d. May 1979

Career Highlights:
In 1925, Chicago finished the season with a sterling 9-1-1 record, a half game ahead of the Pottsville Maroons. On December 6, the two teams met on the field to decide the champion, with the Maroons defeating Blumenthal and the Cardinals 21-7.

After that game, Pottsville staged a post-season exhibition game against the Notre Dame All-Stars featuring the famed Four Horsemen. Pottsville won the game, 9-7, and their supporters made the claim that they were the best team in the world. After all, they claimed victory over the best professional and college teams on consecutive weekends. The game against the Irish All-Stars, however, had been played in Philadelphia and the Frankford Yellow Jackets protested that the game was in violation of their territorial rights; the Maroons and Jackets had been bitter rivals before either team had entered the NFL.

The league stripped Pottsville of the title and ordered the Cardinals to play two additional games to "fix up" the official standings. Chicago defeated the disbanded Milwaukee Badgers and Hammond Pros to finish the season with a record of 11-2-1, ahead of Pottsville's 10-2-0. One of Blumenthal's teammates on the Cardinals was Lenny Sachs (a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame).

Origin:
Illinois

Career Dates:
Blumenthal played at Northwestern University in 1921. He then played in the NFL with the Chicago Cardinals in 1925.