Henry Charles Gillo (October 5, 1894 – September 6, 1948) was a professional football player 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 ...

Racine Legion The Racine Legion was a professional American football team based in Racine, Wisconsin, of the National Football League from 1922 to 1924. Its official name was the Horlick-Racine Legion. The team then operated as the Racine Tornadoes in 1926. ...

, and the

Milwaukee Badgers The Milwaukee Badgers was a professional American football team, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that played in the National Football League from 1922 to 1926. The team played its home games at Athletic Park, later known as Borchert Field, on Mi ...

from 1920 to 1926. In 1920, Gillo also served as head coach of the Pros. He played at the collegiate level at

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

. His style of play earned him the nickname Hank 'Line Plunging' Gillo.

Biography

Gillo was born Henry Charles Gillo on October 5, 1894 in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. Gillo played at Colgate from 1915–1917, and 1919. He was voted captain for the 1918 team but was serving in

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World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(there was no football at Colgate in 1918). After his collegiate career he led the NFL in scoring in 1922 with 52 points. In 1923 he was a Collyer's First-team All-Pro. He held the NFL record for longest field goal with a 55, 56, or 57 yard kick against the Packers in 1922. When he returned to Milwaukee he married Eva Shead, his high school girlfriend. He spent 21 years as a teacher in a prep school in Milwaukee and was the head of the

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

department at the time of his death. Gillo died of a heart attack on September 6, 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillo, Hank 1894 births 1948 deaths Colgate Raiders football players Hammond Pros players Milwaukee Badgers players Racine Legion players Sportspeople from Milwaukee Players of American football from Milwaukee Hammond Pros coaches United States Army personnel of World War I