Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

John Horn Riley (June 13, 1909 – March 22, 1993) 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 ...

tackle. 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 ...

at Northwestern University and professionally in the

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 ...

(NFL) for the

Boston Redskins The Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL), have also played as the Boston Braves, Boston Redskins, Washington Redskins, and Washington Football Team. Founded in 1932, the team has won five ...

. Riley was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1988. He was also a two-time NCAA wrestling national champion at Northwestern and silver medalist in

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

Early life

Riley was born in

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

and attended

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the second- ...

, as well as

St. John's Northwestern Military Academy St. John's Northwestern Military Academy (SJNMA) was founded in 1884 as St. John's Military Academy (SJMA) in Delafield, Wisconsin, by the Rev. Sidney T. Smythe as a private, college preparatory school. In 1995, Northwestern Military and Naval Ac ...

Delafield, Wisconsin Delafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, along the Bark River. The population was 7,085 at the 2010 census. The city of Delafield is a separate municipality from the Town of Delafield, both of which are situated in township 7 North ...

. While at St. Johns, he participated in

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

and captained a championship crew in 1927.

College career

Riley attended and played

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. While he was there, Northwestern had a 20–5–1 record and won two

Big Ten Conference 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 ...

championships. He was named an All-American in 1931. Riley also wrestled at Northwestern and was the NCAA

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

champion in 1931 and 1932. He then won a silver medal in

wrestling at the 1932 Summer Olympics Wrestling at the 1932 Summer Olympics was held between August 1–7 August at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. It was split into two disciplines, Freestyle and Greco-Roman which were further divided into different weight categories. Competition for ...

, behind Swede

Johan Richthoff Johan Cornelius "Snövit" Richthoff (30 April 1898 – 1 October 1983) was a Swedish wrestler. He competed in the freestyle heavyweight division at the 1924, 1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Grif ...

and ahead of Austrian

Nickolaus Hirschl Nickolaus (also "Nikolaus") "Mickey" (also "Micki") Hirschl (March 20, 1906 – October 10, 1991) was an Austrian Olympic-medal-winning wrestler. He was also a European heavyweight wrestling champion, and for 10 years held the ...

Professional career

After college, Riley played professional football in the

for the Boston Redskins (later

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

now

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

) in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

. After football, Riley became a professional wrestler for two years and retired undefeated after 132 professional matches.

Post-sports

Riley entered the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during World War II and rose to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. After the war he worked as a manufacturer's representative in Kenilworth, Illinois. Also, from 1948 to 1957, Riley served as the Northwestern University wrestling coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Jack 1909 births 1993 deaths American football tackles Boston Redskins players Northwestern Wildcats football players Northwestern Wildcats wrestlers All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1932 Summer Olympics United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Chicago People from Kenilworth, Illinois Players of American football from Cook County, Illinois Players of American football from Chicago