Anthracite Solid Runner

It is another mystery/reveal story of a gridiron great. This one may be one of the best rushers in pro football history, that you never heard of.

A fella that is the subject of our discussion in this episode, whom we will refer to as Mr. X, until our reveal, is one of these players whose story has him starting off working for a dime and three pennies an hour to sort through mined coal that came top side from the depths below. Mr. X's childhood job was to pick through the rubble and extract the slate and other non coal items from the valuable black chunks of coal. The job was dangerous as many of the items had sharp edges that slice the skin right off of the kids, and dangerous toxic fumes of the dust from the black carbon. Mr. X and the other boys as they got a little olderand stronger worked near the mine's mouth lifting carrying and pushing carts full of rubble that the miners sent topside. Such was the life pattern of Mr. X, that is until he joined the Navy in 1915 and fought in World War I. 

After 18 months of rigorous training and service on a battleship, Mr. X returned home and helped care for his mother and siblings by going underground as a full fledged miner. Mr. X and the other mine workers would often blow off a bit of steam during breaks and off shift hours by getting together and playing some football in whatever empty spaces they could find around the mining camp. You see these guys from all of the physical labor were strong and lean from the heavy lifting, the swinging of picks and sledge hammers and had muscular lower boodies from pushing two ton carts on dirty tracks. It was in some ways the perfect football gym workout for the era.

Soon these guys started to get a bit competitive. One shift would challenge another to a game, then money would be wagered. This soon spread to other mines and the competitive nature of the gridiron with mining athletes had begun. Mr. X was a very sought after player by many because he had the natural gifts of youth and athleticism along with the muscles of man that hit the blocking sleds every day, because in essence he did with the 4000 pound coal carts. Mr. X was different than any other back that would carry a football. Besides running with reckless abandon, taking on the hits of would be tacklers straight on, without fear he also had a peculiar way of carrying the ball. Author David Fleming described his ball handling style as: "one hand cupped above and below the ball" and carrying the pigskin gently as one would carry a baby chick. He also had graceful moves, quickness and great balance. He was a darn near perfect rusher for the game of football.

Mr. X's football prowess was noticed by others too. Many clamoured to get him to return to school to play college ball because certainly he would instantly make any team that much better. Alas being a good decade older than others still in school and not having a strong suit in academia, Mr. X stayed in the coal mining leagues for a bit longer.  X got to make a little bit of money when he stepped out on the field for a semi pro squad named the Lithuanian Knights. In one game with the Knights he shattered all normalcy for the average game at that time when he rushed for an unheard of 100 plus yards and led the Lithuanian Club eleven to a 68-0 blowout of an opponent. The team's strategy later described by a fellow Knight years later said that they never punted but rather handed the ball of to Mr. X on fourth down and he generally reached the line to gain or scored on the play. Opponents would start to get wise to the Knights running X up the gut, as they would stack the middle. The Lithuanian offense would respond by letting Mr. X find the corner and use his quick wheels and power to run what was in essence jet sweeps to counter the defensive strategy.

People were really starting to notice now as word got around about Mr. X and his amazing runs. A nearby team in Wilkes-Barre, Penssylvania called the Panthers hired X to play ball with the contracted compensation at a lucrative $75 per game. Outstanding income for that time, and more than a month's pay working in the mines. The Wilkes-Barre Panthers played in the Anthracite League against other coal mining towns like Scranton, Pottsville and Coaldale. It was a rough and tumble conference of teams that played fiercely with many players looking to hurt their opponents physically to gain advantages on the field. It was head on a swivel football for sure.

In 1925 this standout player finally got a chance to play in the NFL, as Tony Latone made his professional debut with the Pottsville Maroons football franchise.

Year later George Halas claimed something to the effect that if Tony Latone would have played college ball, he may have very well been one of the best pro players ever. In fact there are many that say that Tony maybe the unofficial leading rusher in pro football for the 1920s era. Yes the same time frame that greats like Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers and even Red Grange played in. There are many comparisons to the Wheaton Iceman, and the stats of both Grange and Latone in the 6 seasons of 1925 through 1930 are very comparable. Latone would unofficially rush for 2,648 yards and punch the ball over the goalline 26 times. Red Grange rushed for 2,616 yards and scored 21 times, showing in the stats that the Maroon great topped the Galloping Ghost in both categories and Latone played 30 less games than Grange in that time period!

One big question that has arisen about Tony Latone is, why is this man not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? This has been a point of discussion in the Pro Football Researchers Association, as well as many other outlets. The possible reasons could be the short career of Latone who spent many of his prime years working in the mines and playing semi-pro ball, never attending college because it is said he had only a fifth grade education level, and yet others claim it is because he is somewhat tainted being the star player, face of the franchise so to speak,on the 1925 Pottsville Maroons team that was stripped of the NFL title for disregarding the directive of NFL Commisionner Joe Carr to not play a game against the Notre Dame All-Stars team on the turf of their rival the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Or it just could be that his name has been lost in the shuffle as future eras of pro players would have better stats than Tony Latone due rules revisions, schematics and strategy evolution. For whatever the reason the memory of Latone's football legacy should be remembered as he was truly one of the greats according to the reports of his peers and his statistics.

Of course we also could not have done the above stat research without the assistance of David Flemings Breaker Boys book Pro-Football-Reference.com and Stathead.com resources.

Banner photo is a copped basket ball hoop from a photo in Wikimedia Commons in the 1926 football team would see success thanks to the direction of the AD/Head Coach Tom King.