Morton Armour Kaer (September 7, 1903 – January 11, 1992), nicknamed "Devil May," was an athlete in track and an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n collegiate and professional

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. He was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

and died in

Mount Shasta, California Mount Shasta (also known as Mount Shasta City) is a city in Siskiyou County, California, at about above sea level on the flanks of Mount Shasta, a prominent northern California landmark. The city is less than southwest of the summit of its na ...

. At the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, he placed fifth in the Olympic pentathlon competition. He was a halfback for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

from 1924 to 1926. In 1925, he set a school record by scoring 19

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

, which led the nation that year, tying Peggy Flournoy's mark. The record lasted 43 years, broken in 1968 by O. J. Simpson. In Kaer's three years he had 36 touchdowns, a career record for the school, tied by Simpson in 1967 and 1968. He was elected All-American in 1926. Five years after his college career, Kaer played one year of professional football, 1931, with the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

of 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 ...

. He became coach at

Weed High School Weed High School is a secondary school located in Weed, California and is part of the Siskiyou Union High School District. For the 2006–07 school year, the school had student enrollment of 196, an Academic Performance Index (API) of 727 which i ...

Weed, California Weed is a city in Siskiyou County, California, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a total population of 2,862, down from 2,967 in 2010. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just outside, Weed proper, inclu ...

, where he accumulated a record of 187–47–7 over 28 years in which his teams won 17 conference championships. He was elected to 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 1972.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaer, Morton 1903 births 1992 deaths American football halfbacks American pentathletes Frankford Yellow Jackets players USC Trojans football players High school football coaches in California All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska People from Red Bluff, California Players of American football from Nebraska