Philip John Ragazzo (June 24, 1915 – October 3, 1994) 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 ...

lineman who played in 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) for the

Cleveland Rams The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 194 ...

, the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

, and the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. 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 ...

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

(now known as

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

) and was drafted in the eighth round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. A graduate of Niles High, he was a three-year letterman for the Red Dragons, graduating in 1934. He was an all- county and All-Ohio selection during a storied scholastic career, playing collegiately for

Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...

from 1934 to 1937 where he earned All-American honors as a lineman. Considered one of the toughest at his position during his era, he played seven seasons in the National Football League, starting first with the Cleveland Rams (1938–1940) and then moving over to the Philadelphia Eagles (1940–1941) after being traded by the Rams. His play was interrupted by World War II, but he returned to the NFL as a member of the New York Giants where he played from 1945 to 1947. After football, he became a history teacher at Niles McKinley Hs where he taught until his retirement. He died in Niles, Ohio of natural causes, October 3, 1994 at age 79.

References

1915 births 1994 deaths American football guards American football tackles Bainbridge Commodores football players Case Western Spartans football players Cleveland Rams players Little Creek Amphibs football players New York Giants players Philadelphia Eagles players People from Niles, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio {{offensive-lineman-1910s-stub