View source for Howard Cassady

{{Short description|American football player (1934–2019)}}
{{Redirect|Hopalong Cassady|the fictional character|Hopalong Cassidy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Hopalong Cassady
| image       = Howard Cassady (1953 Makio).jpg
| image_size  =
| alt         = 
| caption     = Cassady {{circa}} 1953
| number      = 40, 41
| position    = [[Halfback (American football)|Halfback]] <br> [[Wide receiver|Split end]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1934|3|2|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Columbus, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2019|09|20|1934|3|2}}
| death_place = [[Tampa, Florida]], U.S.
| height_ft   = 5
| height_in   = 10
| weight_lb   = 183
| high_school = [[Central High School (Columbus, Ohio)|Central]] <br> (Columbus, Ohio)
| college     = [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State]] (1952–1955)
| draftyear   = 1956
| draftround  = 1
| draftpick   = 3
| pastteams   =
* [[Detroit Lions]] ({{NFL Year|1956|1961}})
* [[Cleveland Browns]] ({{NFL Year|1962}})
* [[Philadelphia Eagles]] (1962)
* Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1963}})
| highlights  =
* [[List of NFL champions (1920–1969)|NFL champion]] ([[1957 NFL Championship Game|1957]])
* [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|National champion]] ([[1954 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|1954]])
* [[Heisman Trophy]] (1955)
* [[Maxwell Award]] (1955)
* [[AP Male Athlete of the Year]] (1955)
* 2× [[Sporting News College Football Player of the Year|''SN'' Player of the Year]] (1954, 1955)
* [[UPI College Football Player of the Year|UPI Player of the Year]] (1955)
* [[Chic Harley Award]] (1955)
* 2× [[List of unanimous All-Americans in college football|Unanimous All-American]] ([[1954 College Football All-America Team|1954]], [[1955 College Football All-America Team|1955]])
* [[Chicago Tribune Silver Football]] (1955)
* 2× First-team [[List of All-Big Ten Conference football teams|All-Big Ten]] ([[1954 All-Big Ten Conference football team|1954]], [[1955 All-Big Ten Conference football team|1955]])
* Second-team All-Big Ten ([[1953 All-Big Ten Conference football team|1953]])
* [[Ohio State Buckeyes football#Retired numbers|Ohio State Buckeyes No. 40]] retired
| statlabel1  = Rushing yards
| statvalue1  = 1,229
| statlabel2  = Rushing average
| statvalue2  = 3.9
| statlabel3  = Rushing [[touchdown]]s
| statvalue3  = 6
| statlabel4  = [[Reception (gridiron football)|Receptions]]
| statvalue4  = 111
| statlabel5  = Receiving yards
| statvalue5  = 1,601
| statlabel6  = Receiving touchdowns
| statvalue6  = 18
| pfr         = /C/CassHo00
| CollegeHOF  = 1759 
}}

'''Howard Albert''' "'''Hopalong'''" '''Cassady''' (March 2, 1934 – September 20, 2019) was an American professional [[American football|football]] [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]] and [[Wide receiver|split end]] who played in the [[National Football League]] (NFL). He played [[college football]] for the [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State Buckeyes]], where he won the [[Heisman Trophy]] in 1955. Cassady played in the NFL for eight seasons, seven of them for the [[Detroit Lions]], with whom he won the [[1957 NFL Championship Game]]. He was inducted into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] in 1979.

==Early life==
Cassady was born in [[Columbus, Ohio]] and attended the now closed [[Central High School (Columbus, Ohio)|Central High School]].

==College career==
Cassady played football for the [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State Buckeyes]] from 1952 to 1955.  During his college career, he scored 37 touchdowns in 36 games.  He also played [[defensive back]]; a pass was never completed on him in his four years at the university.  He was twice selected as a [[unanimous All-American]], in 1954 and 1955.  The [[1954 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|1954 Buckeyes]] finished the season 10–0 and won a consensus national championship.  That year Cassady finished third in the vote for the [[Heisman Trophy]], behind [[Alan Ameche]] of [[Wisconsin Badgers football|Wisconsin]].  In 1955, he won the [[Heisman Trophy]] (by the largest margin at the time) and the [[Maxwell Award]], and was named the [[Associated Press Athlete of the Year]]. During his playing days, he was 5'10" and 170 pounds.

Cassady earned the nickname "Hopalong" during his first game as a freshman for Ohio State.  [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]] sportswriters who saw him play said he "hopped all over the field like the performing cowboy", a reference to the fictional character [[Hopalong Cassidy]].  In that game, Cassady came off the bench to score three touchdowns in a win over [[Indiana Hoosiers football|Indiana University]].

During an Ohio State practice in 1953, Cassady was having trouble executing an off-tackle run.  At this point Coach [[Woody Hayes]] told Cassady to take a seat and brought in backup running back Robert Croce, who executed the play flawlessly and carried the ball for 20+ yards.  Hayes then told Cassady, "Cassady, did you see that Croce was just slow enough to hit the hole.  You're hitting the line too fast!"

Cassady held some Ohio State career records for many years following his graduation.  He held the career rushing record (2,466 yards) until it was surpassed by [[Jim Otis]] in 1969, the career all-purpose yards record (4,403 yards) until surpassed by [[Archie Griffin]] in 1974, and the scoring record (222 points) until surpassed by [[Pete Johnson (American football, born 1954)|Pete Johnson]] in 1975.

Cassady also played [[baseball]] for Ohio State.  He led the team in [[home run]]s in 1955, and [[stolen base]]s in 1956.  He also became a member of the [[Sigma Chi]] fraternity there.

He was a member of [[The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C.]] National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

==Professional career==
Cassady played eight seasons in the [[National Football League]]: seven (1956–1961, and 1963) for the [[Detroit Lions]], and one season (1962) split between the [[Cleveland Browns]] and the [[Philadelphia Eagles]].  In the NFL he was an all-purpose back, playing both receiver and running back and scoring 27 career touchdowns.

==After football==
After retiring from football, Cassady became an entrepreneur forming a company manufacturing concrete pipe.  He then served as a scout for the [[New York Yankees]] [[baseball]] team, and as the [[coach (baseball)|first base coach]] for their former [[Triple-A (baseball)|AAA]] affiliate, the [[Columbus Clippers]].

His son [[Craig Cassady]] played defensive back at Ohio State, and briefly in the NFL for the [[New Orleans Saints]] in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CassCr20.htm|title=Craig Cassady Stats - Pro-Football-Reference.com|website=Pro-Football-Reference.com}}</ref>

Cassady died on September 20, 2019, at his home in Tampa, Florida.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/sports/football/Howard-Hopalong-Cassady-dead.html|title=Howard (Hopalong) Cassady, Speedy Heisman Winner, Dies at 85|newspaper=The New York Times|date=20 September 2019|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard}}</ref><ref>[https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/677584-howard-cassady-former-american-football-player-dies-at-85 Howard Cassady, former American football player dies at 85]</ref> He is one of at least 345 [[List of NFL players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy|NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy]] (CTE),<ref>{{cite web|author=Kent Babb|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/08/heisman-winners-cte/ |title=They watched their husbands win the Heisman – then lost them to CTE. For years, Heisman weekend was a chance to remember their husband’s glory. Now it’s a reminder of a sport’s violent toll. |website=Washington Post |date= Dec 8, 2023 |access-date=Dec 9, 2023}}</ref> which is caused by repeated hits to the head.<ref>{{cite news |title=The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) |website=Concussion Legacy Foundation |url=https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts |access-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702123543/https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/sports/football/cte-study-concussions-brain-tackle.html |title=Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E.  The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease. |work= [[The New York Times]] |date=June 20, 2023 |access-date=July 2, 2023 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{College Football HoF|1759}}
* {{Heisman|howard-cassady}}
* {{Footballstats |nfl=hopalong-cassady |espn= |cbs= |yahoo= |fox= |si= |pfr=C/CassHo00 |rotoworld= }}

{{1956 NFL Draft}}
{{Lions1956DraftPicks}}
{{LionsFirstPick}}
{{navboxes
|title=Howard Cassady—championships, awards, and honors
|list1=
{{1954 Ohio State Buckeyes football navbox}}
{{1957 Detroit Lions}}
{{Heisman Winners}}
{{Maxwell Award Winners}}
{{Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year navbox}}
{{Sporting News College Football Player of the Year}}
{{UPI College Football Player of the Year}}
{{Chicago Tribune Silver Football navbox}}
{{1954 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{1955 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassady, Howard}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:American football halfbacks]]
[[Category:Cleveland Browns players]]
[[Category:Detroit Lions players]]
[[Category:New York Yankees scouts]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Eagles players]]
[[Category:Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players]]
[[Category:Ohio State Buckeyes football players]]
[[Category:All-American college football players]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Heisman Trophy winners]]
[[Category:Maxwell Award winners]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Columbus, Ohio]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio]]