Charles Edgar "Blondy" Wallace (died March 5, 1937) was an early

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and sk ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and later convicted criminal during the

Prohibition Era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

. He was a 240-pound, former Walter Camp second-team All-American tackle from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

. He also played two years at Peddie Institute, in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, winning state championships in 1896 and 1897. During his professional playing career he was involved in almost every major event in professional football between 1902 and 1907. Over that timespan he played for the independent Philadelphia Athletic Club, the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakla ...

of the first National Football League, the "

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

" team and the

Syracuse Athletic Club A nameless professional American football team, based in Syracuse, New York and generically known as the Syracuse Pros or Syracuse Eleven, was once thought to have joined the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football Le ...

in the 1902 World Series of Football, the Franklin Athletic Club and 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 Lea ...

of the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

. In 2022, he was named one of the 10 inaugural members for the Football Learning Academy's Hall of Honor, which looks to acknowledge deserving icons that are not currently inducted in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

Football career

1902 NFL season

In 1902, Col. John Rogers, owner of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

, decided to bankroll the Philadelphia Athletic Club football team. Upon hearing of this, Wallace approached Ben Shibe of the rival

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

to see whether the Athletics would be following suit and fielding a football team. Not wanting his rivals to be unchallenged, Shibe decided to form a team with Wallace as the team's

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. The Athletics baseball manager,

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

, was then named the team's manager. The football Philadelphia Athletics finished the 1902 NFL season with a 5–2–2 record for a controversial second-place finish behind the

Pittsburgh Stars The Pittsburgh Stars or Pittsburg Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that were only in existence for one season in 1902. The team was a member of what was referred to as the first National Football ...

. The league then folded immediately after the season.

1902 World Series of Football

After the NFL season, Wallace played in the World Series of Football in 1902 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

. He played on a team that consisted of former players from the football Athletics and the football Philadelphia Phillies of the NFL. The name of their team was simply called the "New York" team by Series organizer, Tom O'Rourke, expected to give his patrons the pleasure of watching a "home team" win. Syracuse defeated Wallace and the "New York" club in what has been called the first indoor pro football game. However Blondy would get a second chance winning the series after Glenn "Pop" Warner of the Syracuse Athletic Club suffered a head injury and was replaced by Wallace. Syracuse would go on to win the series championship by a score of 36–0.

Franklin Athletic Club

In 1903, Bill Prince, the manager of the Franklin Athletic Club, loaded his team with every star football player available. That year, Wallace became the team's captain. That year Franklin posted a 12–0 record and won the 1903 World Series of Football. This accomplishment makes Blondy a winner on both the 1902 and 1903 World Series teams.

Canton Bulldogs

In 1905, Wallace became the second coach of the Canton Athletic Club (renamed the Canton Bulldogs in 1906). That year Wallace, signed an agreement with the

Latrobe Athletic Association The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first f ...

, led by quarterback

John Brallier John Kinport "Sal" Brallier (December 12, 1876 – September 17, 1960) was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play f ...

, to play against Canton in Latrobe. Latrobe, under Brallier, was not only the current Pennsylvania football champion, but were undefeated for the last three seasons. They were also considered the only professional team capable of competing at the same level as Canton and the

Massillon Tigers The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships i ...

. Canton would go on to lose the game to Latrobe, however the team was the runner-up in the Ohio League standings for the 1905 season. Wallace added four former Massillon players to his team in 1906. That year the Bulldogs was able to win their first game against Massillon, during a 2-game home-and-home series at Canton, however they lost the second game at Massillon, and the Tigers again claimed the Ohio championship. Shortly afterward that second game, a Massillon newspaper charged Wallace with fixing the 1906 championship game. The Bulldogs and Wallace denied the charges, maintaining that Massillon only wanted to ruin the club's reputation before their final game against Latrobe. Wallace later filed a

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

lawsuit against the Massillon paper. However, Wallace was in need of money, and the case was reportedly settled out of court.

Referee

Wallace also held the job of referee. In 1904, he served as a

Head Linesman In gridiron football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Since 2015, Division I ...

for a game between

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

and

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

. Lafayette would go on to win the game 4–0.

Bootlegger

Wallace later became a bootlegger in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. Harry March his 1934 a book titled '' Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs'', which documented the Canton-Massillon betting scandal, called Wallace "The King of the Bootleggers". In 1933 he was convicted of evading income tax payments and sentenced to one year in a federal penitentiary. He was formally accused of evading payment to the government of $4,196.72 in 1929 and $1,953.52 in 1930. He was indicted when books and records from the Egg Harbor Brewery which disclosed, according to the government, income tax evasions in 1929 and 1930.

Death

Wallace died on March 5, 1937 while he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Atlantic City. He had suffered from liver problems."'Blondy' Wallace Dies in Ambulance", ''Chester Times'', Saturday, March 06, 1937, Chester, Pennsylvania