Charles Peter Mathys (June 20, 1897 – January 18, 1983) 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. He played

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 one season (1920-1921) for the

Hammond Pros The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team. History The Pros were established by local businessman Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young. Young, a boxing promoter and owner of ...

and

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 ...

Kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

, and

Punt Returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for five seasons (1922-1926) for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

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 ...

Early life

Born in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, Mathys attended

Green Bay West High School Green Bay West High School is a high school in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, serving the city's west side. Originally founded in 1890 as the high school for the town of Fort Howard (annexed into Green Bay in 1895), the school opened as We ...

, where he played football, basketball, baseball, and ran track. At the time he was in high school, the

practiced against local high school teams. While Mathys was quarterback at Green Bay West, he led his team to a victory over the Packers. After high school, Mathys played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Ripon College. In the early 1900s, freshmen were not allowed to play, so Charlie was listed as a sophomore on the roster so he was able to compete. After a brief "sophomore" stint at Ripon, Charlie transferred to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, where he was once again listed as a sophomore on the roster. Charlie emerged as star at Indiana and was on all-conference teams during his tenure there.

Professional Football Career

Mathys began his professional career with the Hammond Pros in the 1920–1921 season. He appeared in five games, starting in four of them. After the 1921 season, Mathys returned to Green Bay to play for the Packers. He played for the Packers for the next five seasons, appearing in 47 games and starting in 45 of them. Mathys was the quarterback on the first Packer team to beat the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, on September 27, 1925, throwing a last second touchdown pass to win the game 14–10. During his career, Mathys was one of the highest paid players in the league. In a time when players were typically paid $50 per game, Mathys was paid $100 per game, $50 from two different banks. Mathys retired after the 1926 season when his wife told him he needed to find a "real" job and come home to start a family. He had appeared in 52 games, starting 49 of them. He finished his career scoring 102 total points, 16 total touchdowns (1 rushing, 4 receiving, and 11 passing), including a team high 7 passing in 1925. He also tallied two field goals, one for the Hammond Pros and one for the Green Bay Packers. After retiring from professional football, Mathys served as a member of the

Green Bay Packers Board of Directors Green Bay Packers, Inc. is the publicly held nonprofit corporation that owns the National Football League (NFL)'s Green Bay Packers football franchise, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Established in 1923 as the Green Bay Football Corporation, t ...

for many years. He was inducted into the

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...

in 1977.

Career Statistics

= Unofficial statistics due to record keeping error in the 1920s. Statistics are based on packershistory.net. The totals have been adjusted to the career totals accounted for in the Pro Football Chronicle by Dan Daly and Bob O'Donnell.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathys, Charlie 1897 births 1983 deaths American football running backs Indiana Hoosiers football players Green Bay Packers players Ripon Red Hawks football players Players of American football from Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame