Inductees

St. Louis native Jim Conzelman was a football player and coach, baseball executive, and advertising executive. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964 and was selected in 1969 as a quarterback on the National Football League 1920s All-Decade Team.

Conzelman played college football for the 1918 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets team that won the 1919 Rose Bowl. In 1919, he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference quarterback for the Washington University Pikers football team. He then played 10 seasons as a quarterback, halfback, placekicker, and coach in the National Football League for the Decatur Staleys (1920), Rock Island Independents (1921-1922), Milwaukee Badgers (1922-1924), Detroit Panthers (1925-1926) and Providence Steam Roller (1927-1929). He was also a team owner in Detroit and, as player-coach, led the 1928 Providence Steam Roller team to an NFL championship.

From 1932 to 1939, Conzelman was the head football coach for the Washington University Bears football team, leading the program to Missouri Valley Conference championships in 1934, 1935, and 1939. He served as head coach of the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals from 1940 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1948. He led the Cardinals to an NFL championship in 1947 and Western Division championships in 1947 and 1948. He was also an executive with baseball’s St. Louis Browns from 1943 to 1945.

Conzelman was born James Gleason Ryan Dunn in St. Louis in 1898. He was the son of James Dunn and Marguerite Ryan, though his father died when he was still a baby. In 1902, his mother married a dentist, Oscar Conzelman, who adopted him.

Conzelman attended Loyola Academy and later Central High School in St. Louis. He began playing football as a halfback at Central High in 1914. After a realignment of high school districts in 1915, Conzelman attended McKinley High School. At McKinley, Conzelman was the quarterback of the football team, competed on the basketball and track teams, was president of the boys’ athletic association, and served as sergeant-at-arms of the Class of 1916. He led the 1915 McKinley football team to a league championship.