Charles Anderson Scales (January 11, 1938 – June 18, 2023) 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

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for seven 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

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

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 ( ...

, and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. His final season was played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

, for whom he played 13 games, gaining 370 yards on 101 carries, with 2 touchdowns.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

A Pittsburgh native, Scales played his first two NFL seasons with the Steelers, signing with the team as a free agent. As a backup to fullback John Henry Johnson, Scales carried the ball 26 times for 81 yards in 1960 and 50 times for 184 yards in 1961. He did not score a touchdown as a member of the Steelers.

Cleveland Browns

Scales was traded to Cleveland prior to the 1962 exhibition season for one of Cleveland's two 1963 fifth round draft picks (the Browns had acquired a second fifth round pick in a trade with Detroit). Scales was acquired, according to Browns head coach Paul Brown, to compete with Preston Powell as a backup fullback to

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...

. Coach Brown said that Scales had "bothered" the Browns in exhibition games. That, plus the fact that the Steelers had selected fullback Bob Ferguson in the first round of the

1962 NFL Draft The 1962 National Football League draft was held on December 4, 1961 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins used the first overall pick of the draft to select running back Ernie Davis, then subsequently traded him ...

, thus making Scales expendable, prompted the trade. In four seasons with the Browns, Scales rushed for 338 yards, scoring four touchdowns. He caught 10 passes for 97 yards. Scales was traded to the expansion Atlanta Falcons on August 23, 1966 for a draft choice. He scored two touchdowns against Atlanta in an exhibition game just a few days prior to the trade.

Death

Scales died in Pittsburgh on June 18, 2023, at the age of 85.

References

1938 births 2023 deaths Montreal Alouettes players American football running backs Pittsburgh Steelers players Atlanta Falcons players Cleveland Browns players Indiana Hoosiers football players Players of American football from Pittsburgh {{runningback-1930s-stub