Erwin Theodore "Erv" Prasse (December 1, 1917 – June 18, 2005) was an American multi-sport standout athlete in the 1930s and 1940s, notably in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. In college he competed for the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

where he was a second-team All-American and captain of Iowa's 1939 "Ironmen" football team. Professionally, Prasse played basketball for the

Oshkosh All-Stars The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League, a forerunner t ...

in the National Basketball League (NBL), winning two league championships in 1941 and 1942. Prasse also played minor league baseball for two years within the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system. A native of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Prasse attended

Carl Schurz High School Carl Schurz High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Irving Park neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The school is named after German–American Carl Schurz, a statesman, soldier, and advoca ...

Athletic career

Football

Prasse played the end position. Iowa struggled in his first two varsity football seasons, compiling a 2–13–1 record spanning

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

. Prasse was an All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

selection as a junior in 1938, and he was elected captain of the Hawkeye football squad for 1939.''Hawkeye Greats, By the Numbers'', by Lyle Hammes and Neal Rozendaal, Page 177 () ;1939 season In Iowa's Big Ten conference-opening game, Prasse set an

Iowa Stadium Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Iowa Hawkeyes football, Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently ...

record by catching three touchdown passes from Nile Kinnick in a 32–29 victory. His third and final touchdown catch came on fourth down with only minutes remaining in the game. His three touchdown catches remained an Iowa Stadium record until 2005, when Ed Hinkel caught four touchdowns in a game against Minnesota. The 1939 Hawkeyes were nicknamed the "Ironmen" because several players were forced to play all 60 minutes of many games. Prasse was one of those Ironmen – he played all 60 minutes of each of Iowa's last five games that season. The Hawkeyes finished the year with a 6–1–1 record and were ranked ninth in the country. While Prasse's teammate, Kinnick, won the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

, Prasse was named a second-team All-American by

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

. Prasse was selected by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the

1940 NFL Draft The 1940 National Football League Draft was held on December 9, 1939, at the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals selected George Cafego. Player selections Round one Round ...

(11th round, 96th overall) but never ended up playing in the league. He was inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in its first year in 1989. In 1989, Iowa fans selected an all-time University of Iowa football team during the 100th anniversary celebration of Iowa football, and Prasse was an honorable mention selection.

Basketball

During the winters at Iowa, Prasse competed for the school's men's basketball team. He earned three varsity letters (1938–1940). After college, he played in the NBL for the Oshkosh All-Stars for parts of the 1940–41 and 1941–42 seasons, winning championships in both, before having to fight in

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 ...

. When the war ended he returned to professional basketball, once again competing for the All-Stars in part of the 1945–46 season. For his professional career he averaged 1.9 points per game.

Baseball

After completing his collegiate career at Iowa, Prasse played two years of semi-professional baseball within the St. Louis Cardinals' organization as a second baseman and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. In 1940 he competed for the Asheville Tourists of the Piedmont League and the Springfield Cardinals of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Western ...

. In 1941 he again competed for the Asheville Tourists. His baseball career ended due to an injury sustained during World War II in which his throwing arm was shot. During his 189-game career, Prasse compiled a .240 batting average and hit 10 home runs.

Personal

During

, Prasse became an officer in the United States Army. He landed on

Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors designated for the amphibious assault component of operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" r ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

and was later shot in the arm while on reconnaissance in Germany. That injury earned him the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

from the Army. He then retired from sports and returned to private life after the war. Prasse died on June 18, 2005 in Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois from head wounds suffered in a fall earlier that week. He was 87 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prasse, Erv 1917 births 2005 deaths American football ends American men's basketball players Asheville Tourists players Baseball players from Chicago Basketball players from Chicago Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) Iowa Hawkeyes baseball players Iowa Hawkeyes football players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Oshkosh All-Stars players Players of American football from Chicago Sportspeople from Naperville, Illinois Springfield Cardinals players United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Illinois