Paul Augustin Flinn (September 11, 1895 – December 23, 1980) 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. Flinn was born in 1895 in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

. He attended Central High School in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. He played college football as an end for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

in 1915 and 1916. While playing for the

1916 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team The 1916 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1916 college football season. In their 17th year under head coach Henry L. Williams, the Golden Gophers compiled a 6–1 record (3–1 against Weste ...

, he along with

Bert Baston Albert Preston Baston (December 3, 1894 – November 16, 1979) was an American football player for the University of Minnesota, where he was an All-American and one of the first great catchers of the forward pass. He was awarded the Navy Cross fo ...

and

Pudge Wyman Arnold Douglas "Pudge" Wyman (August 20, 1895 – March 4, 1961) was an American football player. He was an All-American fullback for the University of Minnesota from 1915–1916 and halfback for the Rock Island Independents in the first season ...

was credited with giving "the most amazing exhibition of the air game ever witnessed on a Western conference gridiron." He studied forestry while at the university but his time there was interrupted by service in the Army 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 ...

. He planned to return to the football team in 1919, but after finishing second in voting for captaincy of the 1919 team, he opted not to return. In October 1922, he joined the Minneapolis Marines 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 ...

(NFL). He played at the end position for the Marines, appearing in 11 NFL games, all as a starter, during the 1922 and 1923 seasons. He died in 1980 in Saint Paul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flinn, Paul 1895 births 1980 deaths Players of American football from Minnesota Minneapolis Marines players People from Saint Paul, Minnesota