The focal point of our discussion centers on the illustrious career of Ace Parker, an extraordinary figure in the annals of early professional football. Parker emerged not merely as a distinguished passer, but as a multifaceted athlete who excelled as a runner, defender, and leader, captivating the hearts of a nation yearning for gridiron heroes. Throughout this episode, we delve into his remarkable journey from Duke University to the heights of NFL acclaim, where he played pivotal roles for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Yanks. His legacy is one that deserves to be etched alongside the titans of the sport, and we aim to illuminate the myriad contributions he made to the game. Join us as we celebrate the profound impact of Ace Parker, a veritable ace in the realm of football history.
Some great content from interviews with gridiron researchers Larry Schmitt and Joe Ziemba help us to realize the brilliance of Ace Parker in this special Parker Birthday edition
Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.
Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.
Takeaways:
Ace Parker, a renowned figure in early professional football, transcended traditional roles as a quarterback.
His impressive abilities included passing, rushing, and strong defensive tactics, showcasing his versatility.
Parker's legacy is immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, affirming his significance.
Throughout his career, he demonstrated remarkable leadership, captivating audiences during his era of play.
His influence extended beyond football as he was also a notable Major League Baseball player.
Parker's commendable spirit during adversities, including his service in World War II, illustrates his resilience.
Transcripts
Speaker A:
Before the modern quarterback dominated the air, there was Ace Parker, a true renaissance man of early professional football.
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Parker just wasn't a passer, but a dazzling runner, a tenacious defender and a leader who captivated a nation hungry for gridiron heroes.
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Today we dust off the history books and spotlight his Pro Football hall of Famer, a name that deserves to be remembered alongside the game's giants.
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Get ready to discover the multifaceted brilliance of Ace Parker, a true ace in a hole for early professional football.
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Hello, friends.
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My name is Darren Hayes and I am the host of The Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel, pigskind dispatch.com and the Pigskin Dispatch podcast.
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Hello, my football friends.
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This is Darren.
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He's a pigskind.
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Dispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.
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And welcome to another edition of Celebrating a football gridiron Legend.
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On their birthday this May 17, we are going to celebrate Ace Parker.
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Clarence Ace Parker, who played for Duke University in college and went on to NFL greatness in the New York area and a little bit in Boston too, with some teams that we're going to talk about here.
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orians that joined us back in:
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We have Larry Schmidt on the Jersey number seven series and also Joe Ziemba of When Football Was football on New Jersey 31 that each had some great tidbits on the legend.
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Ace Parker, who do you have up.
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Next for our number sevens of all time?
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Clarence Ace Parker of the Brooklyn Dodgers and also the Boston Yanks and the New York Yankees of the All America Conference, which is a little bit of a story in and of itself because that's still all one franchise, right?
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with the Brooklyn Dodgers in:
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He was a leader, he was a passer, he was a rusher, he played strong defense and he led.
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He was the NFL's MVP in:
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They were contenders for the East.
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They finished second both years and you know, Parker was the guy on the team and they were actually, during those couple of years were actually up considered in the New York area on the same plateau as the Giants who were always, you know, the kings of football in New York.
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Right.
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And he was another triple threat player back then.
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He was two way player, great, great ball player.
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He was, he was probably the best player in New York at the time, you know, other than Melheim.
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But you know, Melheim was the center, he was, you know, Parker was the ball handler.
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But then, you know,:
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He came when he came back in:
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d their name to the Tigers in:
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In:
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So Parker was the quarterback for the Boston Yanks for one season.
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It was planned to just be a one year merger like the Pittville Steagalls and Card Pitt.
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But the All America Conference was being formed and the owner of the Tigers decided he wanted to jump leagues and get involved with the All America Conference.
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So when they unmerged in:
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And the Yankees actually had a very good season.
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They won the east and they played the Cleveland Browns in the first All America Conference championship game.
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I've read an interesting story on that.
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Why they end up changing from the NFL to the afc.
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I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but according to what I read, the Morris were upset because the Yankees wanted to play in just across the river in the stadium.
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The Giants, that's part of their territory.
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You can't do that, you know, go back out to Brooklyn and play.
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You know, you're too close to our fan base.
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And.
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Right.
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The gentleman, I forget his name, who owned the Yankees at the time decided, hey, well forget it, we're going to join this other league.
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So we can.
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That's right.
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There was even an entry fee which, you know, that, you know, this is.
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I don't want to get too much off topic, but that was a very, very, very expensive competition that, you know, the All America Conference and the NFL had against each other competing for players.
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Sal, player salaries went way, way up.
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And this is right after the war and, you know, Yankee Stadium was walking distance from the polo ground.
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You just walk right over the bridge across the Harlem river.
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And, you know, sometimes the two teams will be playing at the same time and they're, you know, competing, you know, so the Giants attendance goes down because some players go across the river to watch Ace Parker with the Yankees.
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That's amazing.
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Leaks by jumping leaf.
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They don't have to pay an entry fee to the Giants because they're competing with the NFL.
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And it was, I can't remember, I can't remember the Brooklyn owner's name, but he had a very famous quote that I found in several of the newspapers where he claimed the NFL as being a racket by the big four, meaning the Giants, the Redskins, the Bears and the Packers.
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He said the whole system is rigged.
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Nobody else gets a chance.
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And that's part of what had commissioner Burt Bell.
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That was what his.
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He used this as evidence of why to start the NFL draft, which we know is probably one of the greatest things ever happened to the NFL.
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So, wow.
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Great, great stories on Ace Parker too.
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Definitely, definitely.
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Making our list here of our greatest number sevens.
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Before the modern quarterback dominated the air, there was Ace Parker.
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But Ace originally did not want to be a football player.
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We're going to get to our first great trivia the night after this one and I promise to be quiet, Dern.
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But with Ace wanted to play pro baseball and so he was a major league baseball player and way back in the 30s.
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And the trivia about Duke's Ace Parker was the fact that he was the very first, very first American league baseball player to hit a pinch hit home run in his first major league at bat.
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So how's that for a football hall of Famer?
Speaker B:
Wow.
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He's got that great record for baseball too.
Speaker A:
No wonder he was a triple threat if he was quite the athlete.
Speaker D:
Oh, he was, yeah.
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And he was one of those guys, of course, who could play under all sorts of circumstances.
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I remember a quote about him from Giants owner Tim Mera who said one time in 41 that you can kick Ace Parker in the head and you can break down both his ankles, but you can never hurt his heart.
Speaker D:
Wow, that's.
Speaker A:
That's a high compliment, High praise from owner of the Giants.
Speaker D:
Wow.
Speaker D:
Yeah, that's.
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So he was, like I said, as you know, a triple threat.
Speaker A:
That's all the football history we have today, folks.
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Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.
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We invite you to check out our website, pigskindispatch.com not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of the game as well as our own football comic strip cleet marks comics.
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Pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and don't forget the Big Skin Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history.
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Special thanks to the talents who of.
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Mike and Gene Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.
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This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear.
