Edward Alexander Sprinkle (September 3, 1923 – July 28, 2014) was an American professional

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 for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

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 majo ...

(NFL). He was known to many as "The Meanest Man in Pro Football" and was nicknamed "The Claw." He played for 12 seasons with the Bears and is credited with calling attention to the NFL's defensive players.

College career

Prior to his NFL career, Sprinkle won three

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in football and two in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and earned All-Border Conference while at

Hardin–Simmons University Hardin–Simmons University (HSU) is a private Baptist university in Abilene, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Southern Baptist Convention). History Hardin–Simmons University was founded as Abilene Baptist ...

in the early 1940s. Hardin-Simmons dropped its sports program due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, causing Sprinkle to transfer to the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

for his senior season in 1943, where he earned All-Eastern honors.

Playing career

After leaving college, Sprinkle was signed by

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chi ...

in 1944. At first, he played on both defense and offense; he caught 32 passes for 451 yards and seven

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s during his career. His ability to rush opposing quarterbacks, however, soon made him a defensive specialist. Sprinkle quickly developed a reputation for his aggressive playing style; in the

1946 NFL Championship Game The 1946 NFL Championship Game was the 14th annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), played December 15 at the Polo Grounds in New York City, with a record-breaking attendance of The game matched the New York Giants (7� ...

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 divisio ...

George Franck George Henning "Sonny" Franck (September 23, 1918 – January 19, 2011) was an American football halfback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants. Early years Franck was born in Davenport, Iowa. After his play ...

Frank Reagan Francis Xavier Reagan (July 28, 1919 – November 20, 1972) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played professionally for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles during a seven-season National ...

, and Frank Filchock left with injuries sustained in hits from Sprinkle. One of Sprinkle's tackling strategies, a clothesline tackle with his forearm, led to him receiving the nickname "The Claw" from ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

''. While accused of "dirty play" and unsportsmanlike conduct during his career, leading to calls in 1949 from coaches

Greasy Neale Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (November 5, 1891 – November 2, 1973) was an American football and baseball player and coach. Early life and playing career Neale was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Although writers eventually assumed that Nea ...

and Buddy Parker for the NFL to discipline him, he defended his play as not being any different from other players of the era. According to Sprinkle, "We were meaner in the 1950s because there were fewer positions and we fought harder for them. It was a different era." He was praised by Halas "the greatest pass-rusher I've ever seen," while Giants quarterback

Y. A. Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was a professional American football quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts, after spend ...

remarked in 1969 that "quarterbacks would look with only one eye for receivers. They kept the other eye on Sprinkle."

Post-playing career

Following his pro career, Sprinkle entered business in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

area. He died on July 28, 2014. The

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

named Sprinkle to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2007. Sprinkle was also inducted in the

Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame The Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, located in the Hawthorne Race Course, in Stickney/Cicero, near Chicago, honors sports greats associated with the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded in 1979 as a trailer owned by the Olympia Brewing Comp ...

. On January 15, 2020, Sprinkle was elected to 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 ...

Class of 2020. Sprinkle was also an avid golfer. He had a handicap of 18 at the Midlothian Country Club.

References

External sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprinkle, Ed 1923 births 2014 deaths Players of American football from Texas People from Taylor County, Texas Hardin–Simmons Cowboys football players Navy Midshipmen football players Western Conference Pro Bowl players Chicago Bears players Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Military personnel from Texas