The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team plays their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.
The Portsmouth Spartans were a professional American football team that played in Portsmouth, Ohio from their founding in 1928 to their relocation to Detroit in 1934. Originally drawing players from defunct independent professional and semi-professional teams, they joined the fledgling National Football League (NFL) in 1930. Their home stadium was Universal Stadium, known today as Spartan Municipal Stadium.
Alexander George Karras was an American professional football player, professional wrestler, sportscaster, and actor. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection playing defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), where he played from 1958 to 1970. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Centennial class.
Glenn Emery "Press" Presnell was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He set the NFL single-season scoring record in 1933 and led the league in total offense. He was the last surviving member of the Detroit Lions inaugural 1934 team and helped lead the team to its first NFL championship in 1935. He also set an NFL record with a 54-yard field goal in 1934, a record which was not broken for 19 years. Presnell served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1942 and at Eastern Kentucky State College—now known as Eastern Kentucky University–from 1954 to 1963, compiling a career college football coaching record of 45–56–3. He was also the athletic director at Eastern Kentucky from 1963 to 1971.
Alexander Francis "Wojie" Wojciechowicz was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) from 1935 to 1950. He was a two-way player who played at center on offense and at linebacker on defense. He has been inducted into both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame, was a founder and the first president of the NFL Alumni Association, and was the third player to receive the Order of the Leather Helmet.
Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark, sometimes also known as "the Flying Dutchman" and "the Old Master", was an American football player and coach, basketball player and coach, and university athletic director. He gained his greatest acclaim as a football player and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1963. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1930s All-Decade Team and was the first player to have his jersey retired by the Detroit Lions.
Elkhart Central High School (ECHS) was a public secondary school in Elkhart, Indiana. It was a part of Elkhart Community Schools.
Roger Lee Brown was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions (1960–1966) and the Los Angeles Rams (1967–1969). He played college football for the Maryland State Hawks.
Johnny Ray Holland is an American professional football coach and former player who is the linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). Holland played in the NFL as a linebacker for the Green Bay Packers from 1987 to 1993. He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
Grover Conner “Ox” Emerson was an American football player.
David A. Whitsell was an American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, and the New Orleans Saints. He was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1967 season. Whitsell played college football at Indiana University. Dave was married to Jacque Whitsell. They had four children daughters Amy and Lisa, sons Mike and Dave.
The Ironton Tanks were a semi-professional football team organized in 1919 in Ironton, Ohio.
LeRoy Erwin "Ace" Gutowsky was an American professional American football fullback. He played professional football for eight years from 1932 to 1939 and set the NFL career rushing record in October 1939. He held the Detroit Lions' career and single-season rushing records until the 1960s.
William Ward McKalip is a former American football end and half back who played four seasons in the NFL with the Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions.
The 1934 Detroit Lions season was the fifth in franchise history and the first in Detroit; the franchise had previously played as the Portsmouth Spartans in Portsmouth, Ohio, a city with a population of approximately 40,000. Under head coach Potsy Clark, the Lions won their first ten games then lost three straight in an eight-day span to end the season at 10–3. They finished in second place in the NFL Western Division, three games behind the undefeated Chicago Bears.
Achille Fred "Chick" Maggioli was an American football defensive back and halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Colts. He also played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the Buffalo Bills.
Teddy Peter Topor was an American football player who played quarterback and linebacker. He played college football for the University of Michigan and professional football for the Detroit Lions.
