Alphonse William Hoptowit (September 7, 1915 – April 6, 1981), nicknamed "Hoppy" and "Tonto", was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tackle who played four seasons with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was drafted by the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 194 ...

in the eleventh round of the 1938 NFL Draft. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

and attended Wapato High School in

Wapato, Washington Wapato is a town in Yakima County, Washington, Yakima County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 4,607 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It has a Hispanic majority. History Origins The town was founded ...

. Hoptowit was also a member of the Newark Bears of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

College career

Hoptowit played for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program co ...

from 1933 to 1937. He earned Second-team All-

PCC PCC may refer to: Science and technology * Pearson correlation coefficient (''r''), in statistics * Periodic counter-current chromatography, a type of affinity chromatography * Portable C Compiler, an early compiler for the C programming language ...

honors his senior year in 1937.

Professional career

Hoptowit was selected by the

with the 91st pick in the 1938 NFL Draft. He played two seasons of rugby in Canada prior to joining the

. He came up to the Chicago Bears in 1941 before playing for the Newark Bears of the

the same year. Newark was Chicago's

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. Hoptowit later played in 41 games, starting nineteen, for the Chicago Bears from 1942 to 1945.

Coaching career

Hoptowit served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bears' farm team, the Akron Bears, in 1946. He was an assistant coach for the Washington State Cougars in 1947.

Personal life

Hoptowit was a Native American.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoptowit, Al 1915 births 1981 deaths Players of American football from Washington (state) American football tackles Washington State Cougars football players Chicago Bears players Washington State Cougars football coaches 20th-century Native Americans Native American sportspeople Native Americans in Washington (state) Sportspeople from Yakima, Washington