Jack Sack (February 22, 1902 – March 7, 1980; born Jacob Bernard Sacklowsky) 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 coach. Sack was a

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 ...

player at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

and coach, and played professional football in both 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) and the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL).

Early life

Sack was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, was of Russian-Polish extraction, and was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

.''Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports'' - Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver
/ref> He attended

Fifth Avenue High School Fifth Avenue High School is a defunct school located at 1800 Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Bluff neighborhood, United States. Built in 1894 as a large Romanesque/Gothic Revival building, it served the Pittsburgh Public Schools until ...

in Pittsburgh.

College career

After playing in high school in Pittsburgh, Sack attended the

where he played for the 1920 until 1922. Sack was named

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

All-America honorable mention and ''

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 d ...

'' All-East honorable mention."Jack Sack,"
Jews in Sports. He was selected by Dr. L. H. Baker as a member of Pittsburgh's All-Time Team.

Professional football career

Columbus Tigers

Sack made his professional debut in the NFL in 1923 with the

Columbus Tigers The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before fol ...

. He played for the Tigers for one year.Armcbair GM
Jack Sack

Canton Bulldogs

In 1926, Sack signed on with 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 ...

of the NFL, where he played under future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

coach

Pete Henry Wilbur Francis "Pete" Henry (October 31, 1897 – February 7, 1952) was an American football player, coach, and athletic administrator. He was a charter inductee into both the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fam ...

Cleveland Panthers

Sack also played in the

with the

Cleveland Panthers The Cleveland Panthers were a professional American football team. They were an independent team founded in 1919 from the remains of the Youngstown Patricians. The Panthers played, with various degrees of success, continuously from 1919 and event ...

. While playing for the Panthers, he was also signed on with the Canton Bulldogs.

Coaching career

Sack was the 12th head football coach at

Geneva College Geneva College is a private Christian college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880, where it continues to educate a student body of about 1400 traditional undergra ...

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,005 at the 2020 census. Located 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, the city lies along the Beaver River, six miles (9 km) north of its co ...

, serving for one season, in 1924, and compiling a record of 3–4–2.

Later life

Sack eventually became the owner of Pittsburgh Office Furniture and Equipment in Pittsburgh. He died on March 7, 1980, following a long illness.

Honors

Sack was inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania in 1992."Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania"
/ref>

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sack, Jack 1902 births 1980 deaths American football guards American football tackles Canton Bulldogs players Cleveland Panthers players Columbus Tigers players Geneva Golden Tornadoes football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football players Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pittsburgh Jewish American sportspeople 20th-century American Jews