George Kerr (February 14, 1919 – January 23, 1983) 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 and later a member of the

catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

College football

The "Righteous Reject", as he was called at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, Kerr was an All-East and All-American guard. Upon arriving on campus, George reported to BC coach,

Gil Dobie Robert Gilmour "Gloomy Gil" Dobie (January 21, 1878 – December 23, 1948) was an American football player and coach. Over a period of 33 years, he served as the head football coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State ...

, wearing three sweaters and two overcoats to boost his 155 pounds to 180 after he was told he was too small for

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 ...

. Kerr surprised everyone when he excelled as an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

, receiving All-American mention.

Frank Leahy Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908 – June 21, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1939 to 1940 and at ...

later called Kerr the greatest scholar-athlete he ever coached. Kerr was a member of the Eagles

1941 Sugar Bowl The 1941 Sugar Bowl featured the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers and the fifth-ranked Boston College Eagles, both with records of 10–0 and high-scoring It was played on Wednesday, January 1, 1941, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, In the ...

championship team where his performance against the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

earned him a place on the All-Time

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

team. Kerr then captained the unbeaten Eagles in 1940. He was later inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1970. He was drafted by 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 ...

in the 19th round of the

1941 NFL Draft The 1941 National Football League Draft was held on December 10, 1940, at the Willard InterContinental Washington, Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. With the List of first overall National Football League Draft picks, first overall pick of the draf ...

, however he never played with the team.

Clergy

After his playing career ended, Kerr entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and was ordained in 1945. He was named a Domestic Prelate with the title Right Reverend

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

in 1964. He served as Chaplain to the Great and General Court of Massachusetts and to the

Boston Fire Department The Boston Fire Department provides fire protection and first responder emergency medical services to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It also responds to such incidents as motor vehicle accidents, hazardous material spills, utility mishaps, f ...

, in addition to his duties as pastor of an urban parish. He is best remembered for his commitment to inner-city education.

References

1919 births 1983 deaths American football guards Boston College Eagles football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts Catholics from Massachusetts 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic clergy from Boston {{collegefootball-player-stub