Frederick Lee "Fritz" Rehor (December 15, 1893 – July 19, 1959) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
player. He 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 ...
for
Fielding H. Yost
Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...
's
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...
teams from 1914 to 1916. He also played professional football and was a member of the 1917 professional football champion
Massillon Tigers
The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships ...
, coached by
Knute Rockne
Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...
. He later operated a drug store in
Canton, Ohio
Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...
.
Early years
Rehor was born in
Hastings, Michigan
Hastings is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the county seat of Barry County as well as the county's only city. The population was 7,350 at the 2010 census. The city borders Hastings Charter Township on the north, east, and south, and R ...
in 1893. His parents, Jacob and Louisa Rehor, emigrated to the United States from Germany. His father operated a buzz planer in a table factory.
University of Michigan
Rehor attended the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
as a pharmacy student. He graduated in 1917. While attending Michigan, he was a member of the
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...
fraternity and played
guard
Guard or guards may refer to:
Professional occupations
* Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault
* Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street
* Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning
* Prison ...
for
Fielding H. Yost
Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...
's
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...
teams from 1914 to 1916.
Following a November 1916 game against
Penn, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote: "The work of Rehor on the line ranked the best ever seen in Michigan. The husky 250-pounder outplayed Henning from start to finish, and broke through and nailed the backs for losses." In a summary of the 1916 season, ''The Michigan Alumnus'' wrote: "Of the linemen, Rehor was always prominent, breaking up numerous plays and showing an excellent nose for the ball. Many a spectator will long retain the mental image of the big guard catching a short kick-off and ploughing down the field with the ball."
Professional football
![Fred Rehor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Fred_Rehor.jpg)
After graduating from Michigan, Rehor played professional football. In October 1917, he joined the
Massillon Tigers
The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships ...
.
When it was announced that Rehor would join the Tigers, ''The Evening Independent'' in Massillon ran a feature story on Rehor, billing him as the "Newest Tiger Giant."
[ The article noted:]"Rehor, who graduated from Michigan last spring, tips the beam at 255 pounds. He stands nearly six feet tall and was one of the big men on the Michigan eleven for three seasons. The Michigan giant will arrive here early Saturday morning. He comes here backed by a reputation of being one of the best linemen who played college foot ball in 1916. He should be a tower of strength to the Tiger line, especially when the big battles with Akron, Canton and Youngstown are staged."
Rehor started at right guard in Massillon's 14–6 victory over Buffalo. After the game, ''The Evening Independent'' wrote: "Rehor with his 256 odd pounds bowled over the visiting linemen and formed a defensive bulwark that couldn't be budged." After a 3–0 loss to Akron, the paper noted that the team put up a strong battle on defense with Rehor and Copley (playing at right guard and right tackle) playing "strong defensive games, tackling hard and accurately." In a 28–0 victory over the Columbus Panhandles, Rehor also handled kickoffs. After the game, the Massillon paper wrote: "Exhibiting the same stonewall defense that has characterized their play all season, the Tigers had little trouble in stopping the battering tactics of the Panhandles ... The visitors made four first down but three of them came on forward passes and the other on a penalty. Gains through the Tiger line were few and far between as Nash, Copley, Thornhill, Wesbecher, Rehor and Rambaud were in every mixup and dropped the heavy Panhandle backs in their tracks most of the time." During the fourth quarter of the last game of the regular season, Rehor got into a fight with "Unk" Russell of the Canton Bulldogs, and both were ejected by the referee. The Massillon newspaper reported: "Rehor claimed that Russell had slugged him in scrimmage. Fritz's fighting blood became warm and he wasn't long opening hostilities with the giant Pennsylvanian. Fists flew freely for a few seconds but the mix up was stopped without damage to either player."
The Tigers advanced to play Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...
's Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...
in the 1917 Ohio League championship game on December 2, 1917. Prior to the game, the Massillon paper noted that the "former giant Michigan guard" had been "a tower of trength on the Tiger line this season."[ The Tigers were coached in the championship game by ]Knute Rockne
Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...
and defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 6 to 0; Rehor was the starting left guard in the game.
Family and later years
In April 1918, Rehor married Gertrude E. Ricker of Canton, Ohio
Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...
. Following a quiet wedding ceremony in Canton, the couple left on a trip to Detroit and Hastings, Michigan. On their return, the couple planned to live in Canton, where Rehor was employed as a chemist at the Central Steel plant.
At the time of the 1920 U.S. Census, Rehor was living in Canton with his wife Gertrude; he was employed as a chemist in the steel industry. At the time of the 1930 U.S. Census, Rehor was living in Canton with his wife Gertrude (age 38), daughter Marilyn Jean Rehor (age 5) and son Richard Dale Rehor (age 11 months). He was employed as a merchant operating a retail drugstore. In 1941, Rehor was still living in Canton and operating a drug store. Rehor died in Canton in July 1959.[Ancestry.com and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 atabase on-line]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehor, Fred
Michigan Wolverines football players
Massillon Tigers players
People from Hastings, Michigan
Players of American football from Canton, Ohio
1893 births
1959 deaths