Neno Joseph "Jerry" DaPrato (January 14, 1893 – April 29, 1984) 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. He played college football for

Michigan Agricultural College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and was selected as a consensus first-team All-American in 1915. He also played professional football for the

Detroit Heralds Detroit had four early teams in the National Football League before the Detroit Lions. The Heralds played in 1920, and had played as an independent as far back as 1905. The Tigers, a continuation of the Heralds, played in 1921, folding midseason ...

and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Early years

DaPrato was born in 1893 in Iron Mountain in the

Upper Peninsula of Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

and graduated from Iron Mountain High School.

Football player

Michigan Agricultural

DaPrato attended

(M.A.C., later renamed Michigan State University), where 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 the halfback position for the M.A.C. Aggies from 1914 to 1915. DaPrato was a multi-talented player who ran with the ball, handled place-kicking and punting, and was also considered "a fine forward passer." The 1915 M.A.C. team compiled a 5-1 record, including a 24 to 0 victory over rival

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and the ''Detroit Free Press'' called DaPrato "the leader of the best team M.A.C. ever had." In M.A.C's 24-0 victory over Michigan, the game was played on Michigan's home field, and DaPrato scored all 24 points for M.A.C., consisting of three touchdowns, three extra points, and a field goal. On November 6, 1915, DePrato played in his final game for M.A.C., a 68 to 6 victory over Marquette. He scored four touchdowns, threw a long touchdown pass to Henning, kicked eight extra points, and tallied 22 points scored in his final game. At the end of the 1915 season, DaPrato was a consensus first-team selection on the

1915 College Football All-America Team The 1915 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1915 college football season. The only selectors for the 1915 season who have been recognized as "official" by the Nation ...

. He was called "the greatest scoring machine of the year" after scoring 130 points in just six games during the 1915 season.

Detroit Heralds and Tigers

DaPrato also played professional football for the

starting in November 1915. He made his pro debut on Sunday, November 7, 1915 -- one day after he appeared in his final collegiate game for M.A.C. DaPrato started at left halfback in a game that ended in a scoreless tie with Lancaster. The ''Detroit Free Press'' noted: "Jerry De Prato helped some while he was in there, but he was so banged up from the Marquette game that he was forced to retire after the first half." The following week, DaPrato led the Heralds to a 69 to 0 victory over the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. DaPrato "emphatically demonstrated how to batter a line and skirt the ends," as he ran for a touchdown and converted 9 of 10 extra point attempts for a total of 15 points. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, DaPrato's football career was interrupted by military service. He served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in Germany and was appointed acting mayor of a German town during the occupation. DaPrato wrote from Germany, "I am the mayor of the town and the boss of everybody in it, Germans included." In September 1920, the NFL (called the

American Professional Football Association 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 maj ...

during the 1920 and 1921 seasons) was founded at a meeting in the

Hupmobile Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1939 by the Hupp Motor Car Company of Detroit. The prototype was developed in 1908. History Founding In 1909, Bobby Hupp co-founded Hupp Motor Car Company, with Charles Hastings, for ...

auto showroom of the owner 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 ...

. In the inaugural season of the NFL, DaPrato played at the fullback position for the 1920 Detroit Heralds. He played in the

1921 NFL season The 1921 APFA season was the second season of the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922. At the league meeting in Akron, Ohio on April 30 prior to the season, the Association was reo ...

with the

Later years

In October 1922, DaPrato joined the Michigan National Guard with the rank of captain. He married Elizabeth Parke, a nurse he had met during the war, and the DaPratos were the last family members to reside in the historic David Parke House in

Parkesburg, Pennsylvania Parkesburg is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was counted as 3,866 at the 2020 census. The ZIP code is 19365. History Parkesburg was first known as the Fountain Inn, a tavern built ca. 1734. The inn ceas ...

. DaPrato died there in 1984 at age 91.

References