Manuel Warren Rapp (September 17, 1908 – May 17, 1965) was an American football quarterback and running back who played three seasons for the

St. Louis Gunners The St. Louis Gunners were an independent professional football team based in St. Louis, Missouri, that played the last three games of the 1934 National Football League season, replacing the Cincinnati Reds on the league schedule after the Reds' ...

and Cleveland Rams of the National Football League (NFL).

Early life and education

Manny Rapp was born on September 17, 1908, in

Pevely, Missouri Pevely is a city in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States, and is also a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 6,107, at the 2020 United States Census. History Pevely was platted in 1860. A post office called Pevely has been in operation ...

. He attended Herculaneum (MO) High School. Rapp went to

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

for college and played football there. He lettered in 1932 and 1933 before playing professionally.

Professional career

In 1934, Rapp played for the

of the National Football League (NFL). The Gunners had replaced the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

who had their franchise suspended. He wore number 65. He was the starting quarterback and running back in all three games. He attempted 16 passes, completing 6 of them, for 175 yards and a touchdown. His one touchdown pass was a 56-yard completion to

Paul Moss Paul Raymond Moss is the general manager of Media Prima network's media portal and a judge in 8TV's '' One in a Million'' singing contest. Moss was the AS A&R director of record company Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until last year. ...

, which came against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in a 40 to 7 loss. Even though he had only played 3 games in a 13 game schedule, he was top 10 in interceptions thrown with 6. He also had the highest interception percentage in the league, finishing with a 37.5 mark. His rushing statistics included 15 attempts for 67 yards. Rapp would not play again until 1937, when he played in one more game with the Gunners. St. Louis was at this time part of the Midwest Football League. He would cease playing again until 1942, when he made a final return, playing in one game for the Cleveland Rams.

Death

He died on May 17, 1965, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He was 56 at the time of his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp, Manny 1908 births 1965 deaths St. Louis Gunners players Cleveland Rams players