Frank Filchock

Frank Joseph Filchock (October 8, 1916 – June 20, 1994) was an American gridiron football player and coach.

Born in 1916 in the small Pennsylvania mining town of Crucible, Filchock was a star player at Redstone Township High School and later at Indiana University.

After graduating from university, he became the second pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Pittsburgh Steelers) in the second round of the 1938 NFL Draft.

The Pirates' first first-round draft choice that year was Byron (Whizzer) White of Colorado, who later became a U.S. Supreme Court judge.

Filchock appeared in six games for the Pirates in 1938, and then was sold to the Washington Redskins.

At Washington, he appeared in six more games in the 1938 season, as understudy to Sammy Baugh.

On October 15, 1939 Filchock threw the first 99-yard touchdown pass in NFL history, to Andy Farkas, in a game against his old team, the Pirates.

This set a record for longest play from scrimmage, a record that can only be tied, not broken.

In 1939 and 1944 he led the league in touchdown passes.

In the latter year he also won the league passing championship, just edging out teammate Baugh.

He remained with the Redskins through the 1941 season, part of the time alternating quarters with Baugh.

During this period of alternation, the two were known as Slingin' Sam and Flingin' Frank.

In 1942 and 1943 Filchock was out of professional football and on active duty with the United States Navy.

While in the service he played for Georgia Pre-Flight, where he was named to the U.P. All-Service team at tailback.

In 1944 he returned to Washington, D.C., where the Redskins had just switched to the T-formation.

After the 1945 season coach Steve Owen of the New York Giants asked owner Tim Mara to get Filchock to serve as passer in Owen's A-Formation offense.

Mara made the trade with the Redskins, but actually signing Filchock was more difficult.

Not only did Mara end up exceeding his traditional salary ceiling, but he also agreed to the first multi-year contract in Giants' history.

Filchock got a reported $35,000 for three seasons.

Even such Giant greats as Benny Friedman, Mel Hein and coach Steve Owen had never received multi-year contracts (Owen, in fact, coached the Giants for 22 years without a contract).

In spite of a painful arm injury, Filchock had a good first year in New York, passing for 1,262 yards and 12 touchdowns.

He ran for another 371 yards and was chosen an all-pro halfback and the most valuable player for the Giants.

His passing threat was what the Giants needed to make Owen's offense work, and Filchock led the team from a 3-6-1 record in 1945 to 7-3-1 and first place in the Eastern Conference in 1946.

As a consequence of a famous scandal regarding the 1946 NFL Championship Game, he was suspended by the National Football League (NFL) from 1947 to 1950 for associating with gamblers.

This set up the 1946 NFL title game with the Chicago Bears, scheduled for Sunday, December 15.

Hours before game time, a story broke on radio that gamblers had attempted to fix the game—and that Filchock and another Giant back, Merle Hapes, were involved.

It later developed New York City mayor Bill O'Dwyer, NFL commissioner Bert Bell, police commissioner Arthur Wallander and Giants' owner Tim Mara had met in the mayor's office to assess the situation on the day before the game.

O'Dwyer also wanted to meet with the players, and Filchock and Hapes were brought to the mayor's residence later that day.

At this meeting, Hapes admitted being approached, while Filchock denied it.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, only twelve hours before game time, the district attorney's office announced that Filchock and Hapes had been offered $2,500 each plus the profits from a $1,000 bet that Chicago would win by more than ten points.

The players also had been offered off-season jobs supposed to bring them another $15,000.

Bell announced that although the police had concluded no player had taken a bribe, the league would conduct its own investigation of the offers.

The championship game would go ahead as scheduled.

Filchock, who during the meeting with the mayor had denied being approached, would be allowed to play in the game.

Hapes, who had admitted his failure to report the bribe attempt, would not be allowed to play.

Thus the Giants went into the game minus one of their backfield stars and with a cloud hanging over another.

When Filchock was introduced, he was roundly booed.

He reportedly played hard, suffering a broken nose, but the Giants lost to the Bears 24-14.

This was the precise betting line of the gamblers; they neither won nor lost their bets.

Filchock played 50 minutes and was responsible for all of the Giants' scoring, throwing touchdown passes to Frank Liebel and Steve Filipowicz.