Charles Robert Shiring (1870 – July 23, 1957) was a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player from

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He began his playing career with the

Pittsburgh Athletic Club The Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) was one of the earliest professional ice hockey teams. It was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from around 1895 until 1904 and again from 1907 to 1909. The team was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey Le ...

during the late 1890s and the

Homestead Library & Athletic Club The Carnegie Library of Homestead is a public library founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1898. It is one of 2,509 Carnegie libraries worldwide; 1,689 built in the United States. It was the sixth library commissioned by Carnegie in the U.S. and the se ...

in 1901. In 1902, he played for the

Pittsburgh Stars The Pittsburgh Stars or Pittsburg Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that were only in existence for one season in 1902. The team was a member of what was referred to as the first National Football ...

of the first National Football League (NFL) who ended up winning the league title. Since the Stars consisted of the best professional players from

western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

at the time, it can be said that Shiring was considered the best at his position, center, in the region (and probably in the country). However Shring is best known for playing for the Massillon Tigers from 1903 until 1907. He finally served from 1907 to 1909 as a player-coach for the

Pittsburgh Lyceum The Pittsburgh Lyceum Club, or Pittsburgh Lyceum, was a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League from 1907 to 1908 and played all of its games at Duquesne Garden. ...

, Pittsburgh's last championship professional football team, until the 1970s.

Playing career

In 1901, Shiring was hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club to fill in for the injured

Pete Overfield Peter Delome Overfield (April 12, 1874 – July 1, 1959) was an All-American and professional football player, federal judge and rancher. Overfield played center for the University of Pennsylvania and was a first-team All-American in 1898 and 18 ...

. From the moment he took the field, Shiring never left the Homestead line-up. The following season, he played alongside Christy Mathewson of the

New York Baseball Giants The New York Giants were a Major League Baseball team in the National League that began play in the season as the New York Gothams and were renamed in . They continued as the New York Giants until the team relocated to San Francisco, Californ ...

for the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. In 1903, Shiring travelled to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and continued his playing career with the Massillon Tigers of the Ohio League. He played for the Tigers until 1907 and served as a team captain for three of his four seasons in Massillon. A photograph of Shiring, as the Massillon captain, is currently hanging inside of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

, located in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. Massillon residents reportedly attempted to persuade Shiring to move to their town during and after his time Tigers, however he returned to Pennsylvania in 1907. That season, he became the player-coach for the Pittsburgh Lyceum football team. Throughout his career, Shiring refused to wear shoulder pads while playing. When asked why he refused to wear pads, Shiring responded by saying, "because they hinder me getting through the line." His only padding concession was that he would wear

shin guards A shin guard or shin pad, is a piece of equipment worn on the front of an athlete's shin to protect it from injury. These are commonly used in sports including association football, baseball, ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, cricket and moun ...

Role in the Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal

In 1906 Shiring was a figure in a betting scandal between the Massillon Tigers and the rival

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...

. The Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal was the first major scandal in professional football. It was the first known case of professional gamblers attempting to fix a professional sport. It refers to an allegation made by a Massillon newspaper charging the Bulldogs' coach, Blondy Wallace, and Tigers' end Walter East of conspiring to fix a two-game championship series between the two clubs. When the Tigers won the second and final game of a championship series and were named pro football's champions, Wallace was accused of throwing the game for Canton. However

E. J. Stewart Edward James "Doc" Stewart (January 26, 1877 – November 18, 1929) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was also the founder, and player-coach of the Massillon Tigers professio ...

, the Tigers' coach and the editor of the ''

Massillon Independent ''The Independent'' (formerly ''The Evening Independent'') is an American daily newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Massillon, Ohio. It is owned by GateHouse Media. The newspaper covers western Stark County, Ohio, including Massillon, ...

'', charged that an actual attempt was made to bribe some of the Tiger players and that Wallace had been involved. His accusation was that an attempt had been made to bribe some Massillion players before the first game. According to Stewart,

Tiny Maxwell Robert Wallace "Tiny" Maxwell (September 7, 1884 – June 30, 1922) was a professional football player and referee. He was also a sports editor with the ''Philadelphia Public Ledger''. Biography Early life Maxwell was born in Chicago on Septe ...

and Shiring of Massillon had been solicited to throw the first game by East. Maxwell and Shiring then reported the offer to the Tigers' manager and the scandal ended before it began. The scandal was blamed for ruining professional football in

until the mid-1910s.

Outside of football

Shring left school at the age of 13 and worked with his brothers at the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. The job resulted in him moving his family from

Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania Turtle Creek is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,349 at the 2010 census. George Westinghouse constructed a manufacturing plant nearby. Turtle Creek takes its name from a small stream th ...

to nearby

Wilmerding Wilmerding is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,190 at the 2010 census. It is located southeast of Pittsburgh. At the start of the twentieth century, it had extensive foundries and machine shops of ...

. He built his family's house in 1898, which was picked up and moved across the street in the 1960s, to make room for an expressway. The house remains in that location to this day. Shiring later spent 50 years as a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

official in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania, where he served as the town's squire, which is the equivalent of a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, in addition to being the elected Wilmerding's tax collector in 1903. He also opened a business, working in the insurance and real estate fields. He fathered nine children and remained close to his home in Wilmerding. On July 23, 1957 Shiring died in a Pittsburgh hospital.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shiring, Bob 1870 births 1957 deaths Players of American football from Pittsburgh Homestead Library & Athletic Club players Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football) players Pittsburgh Lyceum (football) players Massillon Tigers players Pittsburgh Stars players Pittsburgh Panthers football players 19th-century players of American football All-Massillons players