Harry Turner (March 5, 1887 – November 15, 1914) was a professional

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 ...

player. He was one of the most popular players on the Canton Professionals, the pre-

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 ...

version of the

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 ...

who played in the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

. The team's

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

, Turner played with the Pros from around 1911 until his death in 1914.

Canton Professionals

By 1911 Turner became the captain of the Professionals. At this time a rivalry existed between the team and

Peggy Parratt George Watson "Peggy" Parratt (March 21, 1883 – January 3, 1959) was a professional football player who played in the "Ohio League" prior to it becoming a part of the National Football League. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Parratt played quarterb ...

, the captain of

Shelby Blues The Shelby Blues were an American football team based in Shelby, Ohio. The team played in the Ohio League from 1900 to 1919. In 1920, when the Ohio League became the APFA (now known as the National Football League), the Blues did not join but conti ...

. Parratt, prior to joining

, was the captain of the hated

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 ...

, the top rival for Canton. During a game in 1911, Turner pulled his entire team from the field to protest a referee's call in favor of the Shelby blues. In a post-game statement, Turner told the ''

Canton Repository ''The Repository'' is an American daily local newspaper serving the Canton, Ohio area. It is currently owned by Gannett. History Historically, the newspaper had strong Republican connections, most notably with President William McKinley, who was ...

'' on November 26, 1911, "Right or wrong, no more football for me after this; these old football duds, mud and dirt, go up to the attic to rot ... I'm done!"

Death

Nonetheless, Turner returned to the gridiron for the next three seasons. He continued to play for the Pros and kept up the rivalry with Parratt. However, tragedy struck near the end of the 1914 season when Turner was severely injured during a game against Parratt and the

Akron Indians The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter mem ...

. While making a tackle on Akron's

Joe Collins Joseph Edward Collins (born Joseph Edward Kollonige; December 3, 1922 – August 30, 1989) was an American Major League Baseball player born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. On September 25, he began his major league career playing for the New York Y ...

, Turner's back was fractured and his

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

was completely severed. According to Canton manager

Jack Cusack Jack Cusack (November 17, 1890 – 1973) was one of the prominent early figures in professional football in Ohio. At the age of twenty-one, Cusack became the manager and owner of the Canton Bulldogs, one of the leading teams of the day. During h ...

, who was at Turner's bedside when he died, his last words were "I know I must go," he said, "but I'm satisfied, for we beat Peggy Parratt." Canton won the game 6–0. The death of Turner was taken hard by the team. It was the first fatal accident involving a major professional football team in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The Professionals easily lost a rematch to the Indians a few days later.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Harry 1887 births 1914 deaths Canton Professionals players Players of American football from Canton, Ohio Sports deaths in Ohio