Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,897
By This is the grave of Tuffy Leemans.
Born in 1912 in Superior, Wisconsin, Alphonse Leemans grew up in a Belgian immigrant household. His father worked coal, so this was very working class stuff. As a kid, Leemans had to work in the summers, spending his high school years shoveling coal. But he had a way out and that way was football. Known as Tuffy (and who can blame him for a nickname that got away from Alphonse), he was a high school star. That kept him in school at least. He was recruited by the University of Oregon. Go Ducks! I believe this makes Leemans the first former Duck to make the grave series!!! I’m curious how some coaches from Oregon would hear about a high school football player in small town Wisconsin in the early 30s or how a player in small town Wisconsin would choose the Ducks over any number of other schools but it happened.
Leemans started on the Ducks freshman team in 1932 (he was already 20, so it took awhile for him to get there) and was really good. But for some reason, he left the team after that season and started playing for George Washington University in 1933. Does GWU even have a football team today? Well, in any case, he was their star from 1933-35 as a running back, quarterback, and kick returner.
Now, the NFL was still pretty small fry in the mid 30s and things were a lot less professional than they are. It turned out that Wellington Mara was a student at Fordham at the same time that Leemans was at GWU. He wanted to be active in running the family business of the New York Giants and so he set up a meeting with Leemans when GWU was in New York to play Fordham, pitching him signing with the Giants after graduation. But then the NFL agreed to the draft, which started in the spring of 1936. So the Giants had to draft Leemans instead, which they did with the 2nd pick in the first ever draft.
Mara always said one of his biggest accomplishments in football was discovering Leemans and there was a reason. He became one of the best NFL players of the 1930s, particularly at fullback, which at that time was a premier position. Today of course it barely exists as a position and many teams do not even carry a fullback. But fullbacks could get a lot of carries at this time and Leemans led the NFL with 830 yards rushing as a rookie. He soon switched primarily to halfback given his running abilities. He also played safety on defense, as most players were still two-way guys at this time. He was on the 1936 All Pro Team, the only rookie to make the team. He was a good basketball player as well as played semipro ball in the offseason.
There were long thoughts that Leemans might just retire, even after his rookie season. It’s not like anyone really made any money playing football. The rumors were not totally without merit, but it took a few years for him to decide to hang up the cleats. But through 1943, when he finally did retire, he was a super player. He made either first or second team All Pro every single year. Sometimes he did not have so many rushing yards, depending on whether the Giants’ offense that year revolved more around him or the tailback. But writers recognized his excellent play either way. The Giants won the title in 1938 and lost the championship game in 1939 and 1941, with Leemans playing a key role on those good teams.
By the time the nation entered World War II at the end of 1941, Leemans was about ready to retire anyway. He tried to enlist, but football made it impossible–he had lost some hearing due to a concussion, which is very football. By chance, the game the Giants played on December 7, 1941 was Tuffy Leemans Day. It was not remembered as such. He played more sparingly at running back in his last two seasons and then called it quits after the 1943 season. Interestingly, he always played more than a bit of quarterback too and that amped up in that last season, when he set career highs in completions and attempts. The game was very different in 1943 and so going 37-87 for 360 yards was considered quality QB play. Leemans was most known as a running back of course and there’s where he got his counting stats, especially in those days when no one really counted anything on defense. But many thought he might even be better as a safety than a running back.
After his career, Leemans moved to Silver Spring, Maryland and ran some businesses. It’s not like the guy was scared by hard work. His jobs of owning a laundromat sure beat the hell out of shoveling coal. He did briefly work as a coach, on the running game with the Giants and then back at George Washington, but he evidently didn’t care much for that. He did coach some high school ball back in the DC area too. But the laundry was the moneymakers. Leemans became a senior figure in the football world in the DC area, was a local guy you’d bring in for charity events, stuff like that.
Leemans gained a ton of weight as he aged and was not healthy at all by the time he started getting late life accolades from an NFL that slowly became aware of honoring its history. In 1969, the league started naming All Decade Teams and Leemans was named to the 1930s team. He then was was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978. He was still around to give a speech, but now over 100 lbs over his playing weight while in his mid 60s, he wasn’t long for the world. He had a heart attack six months after his HOF induction and died. He was 66 years old.
Tuffy Leemans is buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver Spring, Maryland.
If you would like this series to visit other members of the 1930s All Decade Team, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Cliff Battles, who was a running back for the Braves and then the Redskins, is in Rockville, Maryland. Arnie Herber, a quarterback for the Packers primarily, is unsurprisingly, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.