Samuel Edwin Weir (March 14, 1903 – May 15, 1991) was an American collegiate and professional football player. He was the first

Nebraska Cornhuskers football The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the West Division of the Big Ten. Nebraska plays its home games at Memorial Stadium, ...

player elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and is known as one of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

's greatest athletes. In 2005 the ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'', as part of a series on the 100 Greatest Athletes of Nebraska, named Weir the 19th best athlete in the state's history.

Biography

Born in

Superior, Nebraska Superior is a city in Nuckolls County, Nebraska, Nuckolls County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city population was 1,957. Superior bills itself as the "Victorian Capital of Nebraska", and holds a ...

in 1903, Weir played on the line at Nebraska and was captain of the 1923 team that beat the "

Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand tha ...

" of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

. He was elected All-American in 1924 and 1925. Weir turned down offers to play professionally in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1925. He went on to play professionally for the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

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). In 1927, he and several teammates took over the

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

job in mid-season and achieved a 6–9–3 record, as Weir earned

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

honors. The following year, Weir coached the team to an 11–3–2 record, good for a second-place league finish. Weir was a member of Acacia fraternity, and the

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

complex was later named in his honor.

References

External links

Nebraska profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Ed 1903 births 1991 deaths American football tackles Frankford Yellow Jackets coaches Frankford Yellow Jackets players Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football players College track and field coaches in the United States All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Superior, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska Burials in Nebraska