William Harold Lund ( – ) was an American 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 who was a halfback for two seasons for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC). Lund grew up in

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 51,114. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb of the Akron metropol ...

and went to the

Case School of Applied Science The Case School of Engineering is the engineering school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It traces its roots to the 1880 founding of the Case School of Applied Science. It became the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. He was a star on his college football, basketball and track teams. He was a

triple threat man In gridiron football, a triple-threat man is a player who excels at all three of the skills of running, passing, and kicking. In modern usage, such a player would be referred to as a utility player. Triple-threat men were the norm in the early d ...

in football, playing halfback and fullback. In track, he set and still holds school records in the 100-yard dash and long jump. His 110-yard dash time of 9.7 was set in 1945, and will never be broken as 110-yard dash is no longer run. He won the U.S. amateur championship in 1944 in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. After a short stint in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, Lund was selected in 1945 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 ...

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 signed instead to play for the Browns, a team under formation in the new AAFC. After two years with the Browns, in both of which the team won the AAFC championship, he was traded to the

Chicago Rockets The Chicago Rockets were an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949. During the 1949 season, the team was known as the Chicago Hornets. Unlike the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, a ...

. Lund, however, elected to leave professional football to work as an engineer. He was later an assistant coach at Case, his alma mater.

College and professional career

Lund grew up in

and played football briefly in high school. He graduated and attended the

starting in 1942, playing on the school's football, basketball and track teams. As a sophomore in 1943 he became a primary halfback on Case's football team and was touted as an emerging

. Lund joined the

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but was allowed to stay at Case and study engineering as part of the Navy's V-12 training program. In the summer of 1944, he won the U.S.

title at the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

track and field championships in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Lund set school records in the long jump, with 23 feet and 7 inches, and the 100-yard dash, with a time of 9.7 seconds. In the 1944 football season, Lund was moved from halfback to fullback. Later in the season, he became the team's primary passer while continuing to run the ball and kick. Lund was selected by the

with the 147th pick in the 1945 NFL draft. Lund was still in the military in 1945, however, stationed at a base in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and playing for the Fleet City Blue Jackets, a service team in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. Upon his discharge in the summer of 1946, Lund signed with the

, a team under formation in the new

(AAFC). After injuries sidelined two of the team's starting halfbacks in 1946, head coach

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

said Lund would be used more frequently. He got off to a strong start playing alongside fullback

Marion Motley Marion Motley (June 5, 1920 – June 27, 1999) was an American professional football player who was a halfback and linebacker for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). He was a le ...

, the team's primary running threat. He suffered an ankle injury later in the season, however, as the Browns went on to win the 1946 AAFC championship. Billlundautograph

Lund got married in May 1947 to Nancy Ann Faris of

Lorain, Ohio Lorain () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 65 ...

. He was introduced to his wife, a nurse, by teammate

Robert Kolesar Robert C. "Bob" Kolesar (April 5, 1921 – January 13, 2004) was an American football player and medical doctor. He played at the guard position for the University of Michigan from 1940 to 1942 and for the Cleveland Browns in 1946 after a sti ...

, who practiced medicine in the offseason. He also worked as an engineer in the offseason at Thompson Products, an aerospace and automotive conglomerate based in

Euclid, Ohio Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner ring suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 49,692. History The City of Euclid was originally a part of Euclid Township, first map ...

. Near the beginning of the 1947 season, Lund broke his left thumb crashing into the stands after returning an interception for a touchdown against the AAFC's Brooklyn Dodgers. He missed three games and returned in October 1947. The Browns again won the AAFC championship that year. Before the beginning of the 1948 season, the Browns traded Lund and guard Joe Signaigo to the

for guard

Alex Agase Alexander Arrasi Agase (March 27, 1922 – May 3, 2007) was an American football guard and linebacker who was named an All-American three times in college and played on three Cleveland Browns championship teams before becoming head football coac ...

and tackle

Chubby Grigg Forrest Porter "Chubby" Grigg, Jr. (January 10, 1926 – October 10, 1983) was an American football Tackle (American football position), tackle who played seven seasons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (N ...

. Lund did not play for the Rockets, however, quitting professional football to take a job as an engineer.

Later career

Lou Saban Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 a ...

, Lund's teammate on the Browns, became Case's head football coach in 1950 and hired Lund to coach the freshman team. Lund later worked at Howmet Corporation in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and Cleveland's Sherwood Refractory. In 1979, he co-founded Concorde Castings, an aerospace components manufacturer, and was its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

until his retirement in 1995. Lund was a cousin of

Pug Lund Francis "Pug" Lund (April 18, 1913 – May 26, 1994) was an American football player. Lund was born in Rice Lake, Wisconsin and attended Rice Lake High School. As a Minnesota Gopher halfback, Lund was named All-Conference in both 1933 and ...

, a star at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

who was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. He died in 2008.

References

Bibliography

External links

''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lund, Bill 1924 births Players of American football from Akron, Ohio American football running backs Cleveland Browns (AAFC) players 2008 deaths People from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Players of American football from Summit County, Ohio Case Western Spartans football players United States Navy personnel of World War II