View source for Jack Jacobs

{{Short description|American football player (1919–1974)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox Canadian Football League biography
| name = "Indian" Jack Jacobs
| image = Jack Jacobs 1944 (2).jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Jacobs, circa 1944
| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|8|7}}
| birth_place = [[Holdenville, Oklahoma]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1974|01|12|1919|08|7}}
| death_place = [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], U.S.
| team = 
| number = 43, 77, 27
| status = 
| position1 = [[Quarterback]]<br />[[Halfback (American football)|Halfback]]
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 1
| weight_lb = 186
| high_school = [[Muskogee High School|Muskogee]] ([[Muskogee, Oklahoma]])
| college = [[University of Oklahoma|Oklahoma]]
| NFLDraftedYear = 1942
| NFLDraftedRound = 2
| NFLDraftedPick = 12
| NFLDraftedTeam = [[Cleveland Rams]]
| coaching_years1 = 1956-1957
| coaching_team1 = [[London Lords]]
| coaching_years2 = 1963
| coaching_team2 = [[Edmonton Eskimos]]<br>(Backfield Coach)
| playing_years1 = 1942 & 1945
| playing_team1 = [[Los Angeles Rams|Cleveland Rams]]
| playing_years2 = 1946
| playing_team2 = [[Washington Redskins]]
| playing_years3 = 1947–1949
| playing_team3 = [[Green Bay Packers]]
| playing_years4 = 1950–1954
| playing_team4 = [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] ([[Western Interprovincial Football Union|WIFU]])
| playing_years5 = 1956
| playing_team5 = [[London Lords]] ([[Ontario Rugby Football Union|ORFU]])
| playing_years6 = 1964
| playing_team6 =  [[United Football League (1961–1964)|Toledo Tornadoes]]
| career_highlights = 
* [[List of NFL champions (1920–69)|NFL champion]] ([[1945 NFL Championship Game|1945]])
* 3× CFL All Star - 1950, 1951, 1952
* [[Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy]] (1952)
* First-team All-[[Big Eight Conference|Big Six]] ([[1941 All-Big Six Conference football team|1941]])
* Second-team All-Big Six ([[1940 All-Big Six Conference football team|1940]])
| honors =
| NFL = JAC740296
| DatabaseFootball = JACOBJAC01
| CFHOF = jack-jacobs
| CFHOFYear = 1963
}}

'''Jack Jacobs''' (August 7, 1919 &ndash; January 12, 1974), nicknamed "'''Indian Jack'''", was an American professional [[gridiron football|football]] player who was a [[quarterback]] in the [[National Football League]] (NFL) and [[Western Interprovincial Football Union]]. He was a charter member of the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]], inducted in 1963.

==Early life==
Jacobs was born in [[Holdenville, Oklahoma]], and played [[high school football]] at [[Muskogee High School]]. He was popularly known as "Indian Jack" because he was a citizen of the [[Muscogee Nation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.muscogeenation.com/2016/06/19/living-legends-awards/ |title=Muscogee (Creek) Nation Announces Living Legends Honorees |publisher=[[Muscogee Nation]] |accessdate=2023-08-30}}</ref>

==College career==
Jacobs played [[college football]] for the [[Oklahoma Sooners football|Oklahoma Sooners]]. Considered a phenomenal all-round player, Jack started at both [[quarterback]] and [[Punter (football)|punter]], where he averaged 47.84 yards per kick in 1940 (which remains an OU record) and finished his collegiate career with a career average of 42.10. Jacobs accumulated the most offense yardage in 1940/1941 (junior & senior years). As a defensive back, Jacobs is tied with seven other players for the record number of interceptions in a game (3) (1941 OU vs. [[1941 Marquette Hilltoppers football team|Marquette]]). He also played on the [[Oklahoma Sooners baseball|Sooner baseball]] team.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://soonersports.com/documents/2022/2/17//2022_Media_Guide_0217.pdf?id=12768|title=2022 Oklahoma Sooners Baseball Media Guide|date=February 17, 2022|access-date=July 3, 2023|page=104}}</ref>

==Professional career==

===National Football League===
Jacobs was selected in the second round of the [[1942 NFL draft]]. He played quarterback, [[defensive back]], [[Running back|tailback]], [[Halfback (American football)|halfback]], [[Punter (American football)|punter]] in the [[National Football League]] with the [[Cleveland Rams]] in 1942 and 1945 (serving in the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Force]] during [[World War Two]]), the [[Washington Redskins]] in 1946 and the [[Green Bay Packers]] from 1947 to 1949.<ref>see http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-1/Letters-To-Lee-Remmel/94cefa36-5aa4-11df-a3b6-528cc843f916 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306030456/http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-1/Letters-To-Lee-Remmel/94cefa36-5aa4-11df-a3b6-528cc843f916 |date=2016-03-06 }}</ref> he led the league in punting in [[1947 NFL season|1947]].<ref>Also see (http://www.nfl.com/players/jackjacobs/careerstats?id=JAC740296).</ref>

===Western Interprovincial Football Union===
Jacobs then joined the [[Western Interprovincial Football Union]] as a [[quarterback]] for the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] (1950–1954), for whom he won the [[Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy]] in 1952.  Though Jacobs did not invent the [[forward pass]], he is widely recognized as one of the key figures in making the forward pass an integral part of professional football.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/2004/jJacobs.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-06-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211072857/http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/2004/jJacobs.htm |archive-date=2005-12-11 }}</ref>  His exciting passing game drew thousands of fans to Blue Bombers games, instigating the need for the city to build a larger stadium, [[Winnipeg Stadium]] (later called [[Canad Inns Stadium]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bluebombers.com/page/history |title=Archived copy |access-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018004259/http://www.bluebombers.com/page/history |archive-date=October 18, 2011 }}</ref>

As a Blue Bomber, Jacobs completed 709 of 1,330 passes for 11,094 yards, at that time the all-time leading passer for the [[Canadian Football League West Division|Western Interprovincial Football Union]]. In 1951, he became the first professional football player to throw for 3,000 yards in a season with 3,248. He was also the first player to throw for more than 30 touchdowns with 33. The next season Jacobs threw 34 touchdowns and amassed 2,586 yards. Jacobs had 104 touchdown passes to only 53 interceptions.

With Jacobs as their [[Starting lineup|starting]] quarterback, the Bombers compiled a record of 46 wins, 27 losses, and three ties. They lost the [[38th Grey Cup|Grey Cup in 1950]] to the [[Toronto Argonauts]] (13–0) and again in [[41st Grey Cup|1953]] to the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] (12–6).

Winnipeg Stadium, built in 1953, was nicknamed "The House That Jack Built" because of Jacobs' contribution to the success of the team.

Jacobs was twice a [[Grey Cup]] finalist, was named the all-western quarterback twice, and was one of the original inductees to the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]] in June 1963. He was also inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, and the [[Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum]] in 2004. Several records he set while at the University of Oklahoma still stand.

===Other pro football===
Jacobs asked for his outright release from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in February 1956.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GSdUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ODoNAAAAIBAJ&dq=jack-jacobs&pg=5762%2C4492239 |title = The Leader-Post - Google News Archive Search}}</ref> After being waived out of the WIFU, Jacobs signed a contract with the [[London Lords]] (ORFU) as the head coach. Jacobs also played most of the season for the Lords.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kz1kAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FHwNAAAAIBAJ&dq=jack-jacobs&pg=7210%2C3060884 |title = The Calgary Herald - Google News Archive Search}}</ref>

In 1957, Jacobs added the role of general manager to his duties with the London Lords. Jacobs played in one exhibition game in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qSU_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=FFAMAAAAIBAJ&dq=jack-jacobs&pg=3791%2C4322479 |title = The Windsor Daily Star - Google News Archive Search}}</ref>

After serving as an assistant coach in the CFL, Jacobs returned to the field as a player in 1964. Jacobs suited up for the Toledo Tornadoes ([[United Football League (1961–1964)|United Football League]]) and saw action primarily as a punter although he did see some action at quarterback as well.

Jacobs put on the pads for one final game on July 18, 1966, dressing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in an exhibition game.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YcgyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4-wFAAAAIBAJ&dq=jack-jacobs&pg=1165%2C1056480 |title = Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search}}</ref>

==Career regular season statistics==

Source:<ref>[https://www.statscrew.com/football/stats/p-jacobjac001 Jack Jacob's professional football statistics]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="background: #FFFFFF;"
|colspan=3 align="center"|'''Statistics''' ||colspan=7 align="center"| '''Passing'''||colspan=5 align="center"| '''Punting'''||colspan=5 align="center"| '''Interceptions'''
|-
| '''Year''' || '''Team''' || '''GP'''||'''Att'''||'''Com'''||'''%'''||'''Yds'''||'''TD'''||'''Int''' ||'''Lg''' ||'''#'''||'''Yds'''||'''Ave.'''||'''Lg'''||'''S'''||'''No'''||'''Yds'''||'''Ave.'''||'''Lg'''||'''TD'''
|-
| [[1942 Cleveland Rams season|1942]] || [[Cleveland Rams]] || 8||93	||43	||46.2	||640	||	6	||6	||67||33	||1395	||42.3	||66	|| ||4	||22	||5.5	||22 	||0
|-
| 1943 || '''''Military Service'''''
|-
| 1944 || '''''Military Service'''''
|-
| [[1945 Cleveland Rams season|1945]]|| [[Cleveland Rams]] || 2|| 5	||3	||60.0	||12	||	0	||	0	||11 ||1	||43	||43.0	||43	|| ||-||-||-||-||-
|-
| [[1946 Washington Redskins season|1946]] || [[Washington Redskins]] || 9|| 12	||5	||41.7	||98	||0	||	2	||35||10	||428	||42.8	||61	|| ||2	||56	||28.0	||42 	||0
|-
| [[1947 Green Bay Packers season|1947]] || [[Green Bay Packers]]|| 12|| 242	||108	||44.6	||1615	||16	||	17	||	69||57	||2481	||43.5	||74	|| ||4	||64	||16.0	||29 	||0
|-
| [[1948 Green Bay Packers season|1948]] || [[Green Bay Packers]]|| 12||184	||82	||44.6	||848	||	5	||	21	||	64||69	||2782	||40.3	||78	|| ||-||-||-||-||-
|-
| [[1949 Green Bay Packers season|1949]] || [[Green Bay Packers]] || 12|| 16	||3	||18.8	||55	||0	||3	||39||17	||757	||44.5	||58	|| ||2	|| 26	|| 13.0	|| 26 	|| 0
|-
| [[1950 CFL season|1950]] || [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] || 12||187	||85	||45.5	||1604	||14	||8	||||94	||3772	||40.1	||70	||18||-||-||-||-||-
|-
| [[1951 CFL season|1951]] ||[[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] || 14||	355	||204	||57.5	||3248	||	33	||10	||100 ||95	||3900	||41.1	||0	||10||-||-||-||-||-
|-
| [[1952 CFL season|1952]] || [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] || 16||286	||147	||51.4	||2586	||34	||12	||||103	||4522	||43.9	||88	||13||3	||15	||5.0	||10 	||0
|-
| [[1953 CFL season|1953]] || [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] || 16|| 252	||146	||57.9	||1924	||11	||10	||||112	||4440	||39.6	||80	||6||1	||0	||0.0	||0 	||0
|-
| [[1954 CFL season|1954]] || [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] || 16||250	 ||127	 ||50.8	 ||1732	 ||	12	 ||	13	 ||||114||  4614	|| 40.5	|| 82	|| 8||-||-||-||-||-
|-
| || ''CFL Totals'' || || '''1330''' || '''709''' || '''53.3''' ||'''11094'''|| '''104'''||'''53'''||'''100'''||518	 ||21248	 ||41.0	 ||88	 ||55||4	||15	||3.8	||10 	||0
|-
| || ''NFL Totals'' || || '''552''' || '''244''' || '''44.2	''' ||'''3268'''|| '''27'''||'''49'''||'''69'''||187	||7886	||42.2	||78	|| ||12	||168	||14.0	||42 	||0
|-
| || '''Totals''' || || '''1882''' || '''953''' || '''50.6''' ||'''14362'''|| '''131'''||'''102'''||'''100'''||705	||29134	||41.3	||88	||55||16	||183	||11.4	||42 	||0

|}

==Head coaching record==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season
|-
!Won!!Lost!!Ties!!Win %!!Finish
|-
![[1956 London Lords season|LON]]||[[1956 in Canadian football|1956]]
||3||7||0||{{winpct|3|7}}|| 4th in [[Ontario Rugby Football Union|ORFU]]
|-
![[1957 London Lords season|LON]]||[[1957 in Canadian football|1957]]
||8||2||2||{{winpct|8|2|2}}|| 1st in [[Ontario Rugby Football Union|ORFU]] 
|-
! colspan="2"| Total ||11 ||9 ||2 ||{{winpct|11|9|2}}||
|}

==Post NFL career==
In 1955, Jacobs was a [[Scout (sport)|scout]] for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and later, was a [[Coach (sport)|coach]] for the [[London Lords]] of the [[Ontario Rugby Football Union]] (ORFU) for two seasons. He also worked as an assistant coach for the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]], [[Montreal Alouettes]] and the [[Edmonton Eskimos]].

Jacobs was also an actor who played a professional football player in the 1948 movie, ''[[Triple Threat (1948 film)|Triple Threat]]''. Jacobs died in 1974 in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]] from a sudden heart attack.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
* ''Who's Who in Canadian Sport'' by [[Bob Ferguson (journalist)|Bob Ferguson]] (3rd edition, Sporting Facts Publications, Ottawa, 1999), {{ISBN|1-894282-00-0}}.
* "CFL Facts, Figures and Records" 1985 to 2007 Canadian Football League

==External links==
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030859/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JACOBJAC01 NFL stats]}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051211072857/http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/2004/jJacobs.htm Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame profile]}}
*{{IMDb name|0414308}}

{{Oklahoma Sooners quarterback navbox}}
{{Washington Commanders starting quarterbacks}}
{{Winnipeg Blue Bombers starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Los Angeles Rams starting quarterback navbox}}
{{45th Grey Cup}}
{{1945 Cleveland Rams}}
{{Cleveland Rams 1942 draft navbox}}
{{NFL punting yards leaders}}
{{CFL passing yardage leaders}}
{{Jeff Nicklin pre 1973}}
{{Canadian Football Hall of Fame members}}
{{Winnipeg Blue Bombers Ring of Honour}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Jack}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:American football defensive backs]]
[[Category:American football halfbacks]]
[[Category:American football punters]]
[[Category:Players of Canadian football from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Canadian football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:Cleveland Rams players]]
[[Category:Edmonton Elks coaches]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers players]]
[[Category:March Field Flyers football players]]
[[Category:Muscogee (Creek) Nation people]]
[[Category:Oklahoma Sooners baseball players]]
[[Category:Oklahoma Sooners football players]]
[[Category:Ontario Rugby Football Union players]]
[[Category:United Football League (1961–1964) players]]
[[Category:Washington Redskins players]]
[[Category:Winnipeg Blue Bombers players]]
[[Category:People from Holdenville, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Native American male actors]]
[[Category:Native American players of American football]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American people]]