Johnny "Blood" McNally

John Victor McNally was born November 27 1903 at New Richmond, Wisconsin. "Johnny Blood" (as he came to be known) was an integral example for players of every position. He was incredibly intelligent as a young man and graduated high school at 14, but was fairly unathletic for most of his youth. However, in his days at St. John College he became not only the captain of the basketball team, but a letterman in track, baseball, and of course football, all in his junior year.

With one year of college eligibility left, Johnny and a friend of his from his youth decided to join a professional gridiron football team. While passing by a movie theater, he saw the title of the film Sand and Blood on the marquee. He turned to his friend and said, "That's it. You be Sand. I'll be Blood," creating the alias that not only gave him in essence an extra year of play (by hiding his pro play from college officials) but made him famous.

Johnny got his first professional position with the '25-'26 Milwaukee Badgers, where he became famous as the "Vagabond Halfback." His off-the-field behavior and spontenaiety probably attracted more attention than his unlikely skill. He was 6'1" and 188 lbs. in his prime; tall, slender, and vicious. He was ridiculously fast and agile, had excellent pass catching ability, and passed, punted, and tackled with the best of them.

Between 1929 and 1936 he played with the Green Bay Packers, who with him on the field won four championships. He amassed a total of 14 seasons with 5 different teams. He ended his career in 1939 as the coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He married in his mid-forties and died November 28 1985 at the ripe old age of 82. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1963.

Additional sources of good information on early NFL players are the NFL Hall of Fame and the ESPN film Old Leather.