Alphonse Herman Mahrt (October 12, 1893 – June 24, 1970) was a professional football player and coach who played his entire career with the Dayton Triangles of the "

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

" and later 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 an early proponent of the

forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridir ...

after the revolutionary play was added to an extensive list of regulations to college football in 1906. By 1911 when most of the pass restrictions were lifted, Mahrt debuted as regular back on St. Mary’s Institute’s (now the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

) varsity football team. Mahrt discovered that spinning the throw of the ball increased accuracy and distance, establishing an aerial offense against such teams as

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

and

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

. In 1913 Mahrt switched to the St. Mary’s Cadets, the precursor of the future Dayton Triangles, he was also named the team's captain. Mahrt returned to St. Mary’s varsity in 1914, and captained the team. That season a 70-yard spiral to

Babe Zimmerman Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Major ...

against

Ohio Northern University Ohio Northern University (Ohio Northern or ONU) is a private United Methodist Church–affiliated university in Ada, Ohio. Founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871, ONU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It offers over 60 programs to ...

set a school record. Aside from his college career, Al continued to play for the Cadets. From 1913 until 1915 the team won the Dayton City Championship every year. In 1914 Mahrt was injured through most of the season, however in 1915 he was named the team's coach. In 1918, Mahrt joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1920, Al led all passers in the American Professional Football Association (renamed the NFL in 1922), completing 28 aerials for 591 yards. He would also throw 7 touchdowns on the year. He was runner-up in 1921 completing 29 that were good for 452 yards. He was chosen to the 1920 All-Pro team, which placed him as a second-team

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He retired from the Triangles after the 1922 season. After his football career, Mahrt worked at Dayton Brewing Co, Dayton Metal Products, and Smart Co. He then worked with Mead Corporation (later

MeadWestvaco MeadWestvaco Corporation was an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It had approximately 23,000 employees. In February 2006, it moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond. In March 2008, the company announced a change to sta ...

, now

WestRock WestRock is an American corrugated packaging company. It was formed in July 2015 after the merger of MeadWestvaco and RockTenn. WestRock is the 2nd largest American packaging company. It is one of the world's largest paper and packaging companies ...

) for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1959. When he retired he was the vice president of the corporation. WestRock's Mahrt paper mill in

Cottonton, Alabama Cottonton is an unincorporated community in Russell County, Alabama, United States. Geography Cottonton is located in southeastern Russell County along the Chattahoochee River, which is also the Georgia state line, at 32° 8′ 49″ N, 85° 4 ...

, was named in Mr. Mahrt's honor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahrt, Al 1893 births 1970 deaths American football quarterbacks American football tackles Dayton Flyers football players Dayton Flyers men's basketball coaches Dayton Triangles (Ohio League) players Dayton Triangles coaches Dayton Triangles players United States Army personnel of World War I Basketball coaches from Ohio Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio