View source for Ed Franco

{{Short description|American football player (1915–1992)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL player
| name        = Ed Franco
| image       = Ed Franco.jpg
| caption     = Franco c. 1936
| number      = 45, 19
| position    = [[Tackle (gridiron football position)|Offensive tackle]]
| birth_date  = {{birth-date|April 24, 1915}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1992|11|18|1915|4|24}}
| death_place = [[Bayonne, New Jersey]], U.S.
| height_ft   = 5
| height_in   = 8
| weight_lb   = 205
| high_school = [[William L. Dickinson High School|William L. Dickinson]] <br> ([[Jersey City, New Jersey]])
| college     = [[Fordham Rams football|Fordham]]
| draftyear   = 1938
| draftround  = 5
| draftpick   = 31
| pastteams   = 
* [[Union City Rams]] (1938)
* [[Boston Yanks]] ({{NFL Year|1944}})
| highlights  = 
* Consensus [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1937 College Football All-America Team|1937]])
* First-team All-American ([[1936 College Football All-America Team|1936]])
* First-team All-Eastern ([[1937 All-Eastern football team|1937]])
| statlabel1  = Games played
| statvalue1  = 10
| statlabel2  = Games started
| statvalue2  = 9
| pfr         = FranEd20
| CollegeHOF  = 1482
}}

'''Edmondo Guido Armando Franco''' (April 24, 1915 – November 18, 1992) was an American professional [[American football|football]] player for the [[Boston Yanks]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL).  He played [[college football]] for the [[Fordham Rams football|Fordham Rams]] and earned fame as one of the legendary [[Seven Blocks of Granite]]. He was inducted into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] in 1980.<ref name="chof" />

==Early life==
Ed Franco was the youngest of nine children born to [[Italians|Italian]] [[Immigration|immigrants]], Nicola and Filomena Franco, on [[Christopher Street]], in [[New York City]].  The family later moved to [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], where Franco began to display his extraordinary athletic ability. He earned All-State honors at [[William L. Dickinson High School]] as both a guard for the [[High school football|football]] team and a [[catcher]] for [[baseball]].<ref name="chof">{{College Football HoF|id=1482|name=Ed "Devil Doll" Franco |accessdate=July 22, 2007}}</ref>

==Seven Blocks of Granite college football fame==
After high school, Franco attended [[Fordham University]], where he was elected president of his freshman class.  He played guard and tackle for the legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite," coached by the [[Jim Crowley|Sleepy Jim Crowley]], one of the famed [[Four Horsemen of Notre Dame]].  The {{height|ft=5|in=8}}, {{convert|196|lb|kg|adj=on}} Franco was voted as a consensus [[All-American]] for both positions following the 1937 and 1938 seasons, only one of two Fordham players ever named consensus All-American.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/20/sports/ed-franco-77-star-on-7-blocks-team-for-fordham-dies.html |title=Ed Franco, 77, Star On '7 Blocks' Team For Fordham, Dies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Thomas, Jr. |first=Robert McG. |authorlink=Robert McG. Thomas, Jr. |date=November 20, 1992 |accessdate=July 17, 2012}}</ref>   He played alongside the famous [[Vince Lombardi]], the right guard for the Blocks of Granite.  In 1935, the Rams posted a 6-1-2 record with five shutouts. The 1936 squad lost only one game, the season finale to [[New York University]].  The Blocks saw their peak in 1937 with 8 wins, no losses, and no ties.

Franco served as [[Captain (sports)|captain]] of the East team in the 1938 [[East-West Shrine Game]].

==Professional football career and after==
Franco had a brief professional career: He was a fifth-round selection (31st overall) of the [[Cleveland Rams]] in the [[1938 NFL draft]], but didn't stay with the team.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1938 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1938/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> On December 9, 1939, Franco married his sweetheart Anna May McGinley, a nursing student at Bayonne Nursing School.  Franco decided not to continue his professional career, however, since at that time football paid little.  Franco returned to Fordham as a line [[Coach (sport)|coach]] for six years, where he helped the [[Fordham Rams|Rams]] gain a [[Cotton Bowl Classic]] bid in 1941 and a [[Sugar Bowl]] bid in 1942.

In 1944, Franco returned to the NFL and won the starting tackle job in his first game as a member of the [[Boston Yanks]]. He coached the [[American Association (American football)|American Association]] Jersey City Giants.<ref name="obit" /> Franco worked as the eastern [[Scout (sport)|scout]] for the [[Green Bay Packers]] and the [[Washington Redskins]] along with coach and close friend Lombardi.

Franco later owned several successful businesses in Jersey City and [[Secaucus, New Jersey|Secaucus]] and worked for the [[Meadowlands Racetrack]]. He died on November 18, 1992, at the age of 77.  He was survived by his three children, Margaret, Ned, and Rosemary, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.<ref name="obit" />

==Honors==
In 1980, Ed Franco was elected to the [[College Football Hall of Fame]].  That same year, Franco a Jersey City baseball park was dedicated in his name; the park is still in use today.  On October 24, 2008, [[Fordham University]] honored the memory of its legendary defensive line by dedicating a monument on its [[Fordham University#Rose Hill|Rose Hill campus]].  The monument{{emdash}}made of seven blocks of granite stone{{emdash}}stands by the entrance to [[Jack Coffey Field]].<ref name="monument">{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/archive_1392.asp |title=Football Legends Honored with Rose Hill Monument |date=October 2008 |publisher=Fordham University |accessdate=July 17, 2012}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{1937 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Cleveland Rams 1938 draft navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Ed}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:All-American college football players]]
[[Category:William L. Dickinson High School alumni]]
[[Category:American football tackles]]
[[Category:Fordham Rams football players]]
[[Category:Boston Yanks players]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Fordham University alumni]]
[[Category:Fordham Rams football coaches]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:American Association (American football) coaches]]
[[Category:American Association (American football) players]]