William Morrison Karr Jr. (November 29, 1911 – October 29, 1979) 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 wi ...

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

who played six seasons in 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) for the Chicago Bears from 1933 to 1938. He twice led the NFL in receiving touchdowns and was selected to the 1935 All-Pro Team.

Early years

Karr was born in 1911 in Ripley, West Virginia. He attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

from 1929 to 1933, competing in boxing, baseball, football, track, and basketball. He played at the end position for

Greasy Neale Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (November 5, 1891 – November 2, 1973) was an American football and baseball player and coach. Early life and playing career Neale was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Although writers eventually assumed that Nea ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

and 1932 West Virginia football teams.

Professional football

Karr joined the Chicago Bears in 1933. As a rookie, he appeared in all 13 games, playing at the end position. He led the NFL in 1933 with three touchdown receptions and helped lead the Bears to their first NFL championship. In the

1933 NFL Championship Game The 1933 NFL Championship Game was the first scheduled championship game of the National Football League (NFL) since its founding in 1920. It was played on December 17 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the attendance was estimated at 25,000. The ...

, Karr scored two touchdowns, one on a pass from

Bronko Nagurski Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional ...

and then taking a lateral for 31 yards and the winning touchdown with three minutes remaining. Karr again led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with six in 1935. He was selected as a first-team player on the 1935 All-Pro Team and as a second-team player on the 1934 and 1937 teams. Playing in six NFL seasons, Karr appeared in 63 games and totaled 48 receptions, 1,032 receiving yards, 18 receiving touchdowns, and 120 points scored. In 1941, George Halas selected Karr as the right end on his All-Time Bears team.

Later years

In 1939, Karr joined the West Virginia State Police. Karr died in 1978 at

Clendenin, West Virginia Clendenin is a town in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Elk River. The population was 850 at the 2020 census. History In the 1800s, Clendenin was a small settlement at the confluence of Big Sandy Creek and the Elk ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karr, Bill 1911 births 1979 deaths American football ends Chicago Bears players West Virginia Mountaineers football players People from Ripley, West Virginia People from Clendenin, West Virginia