Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Reuben Ursella played quarterback. He was a great scat back, kicker, and kick returner. This is how Reuben Ursella (and Fred Chicken) impacted both the Minneapolis Marines and the Rock Island Independents during the period when their teams outscored opponents 1,725 to 157 points. Ursella took over a...

All in the Family was a situation comedy but with an effectively understated message.  It showed a family in Queens, New York with problems within the family and intertwined with the social and economic climate at the time... In laughing at them we were laughing at ourselves. I agree with the premi...

The only suggestion I would make to our process, and I brought this up during the business meeting at the 2018 Buffalo convention, is that once the ballot of 20 is finalized, I would drop the requirement that voters MUST vote for 10 nominees. I think that should be changed to: ...no more than 10 no...

I think Adrian Peterson might have been the best one-dimensional back I've never really thought about this but I think that A.P. is a good nominee although I have no idea if his deficiencies in receiving and blocking were because of poor coaching or more because he simply wasn't interested in eithe...

Robert Wells “Bobby” Marshall was a professional football player of African American and Jewish German heritage. He played football for Minneapolis Central high school and college football at Minnesota (1904-06). He is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Professionally, Marshall played for the Min...

at 30:00 seconds says he "got paid" and then told lasy she bet the wrong way Bud, come on. Found this looking for stuff with the bad news today. Yikes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyB9IGWIlw4 I watched this video, and the lady says she doesn’t think she’ll ever see the Vikings win a S...

How do you rank Ursella v. Bobby Marshall? Both HOVG? If so, which one would you put in first? That's a tough one. (I always find it difficult to compare players at different positions.) I have a high regard for Bobby Marshall. He was a tremendous all-around athlete, but as you say, we can only jud...

I'd like to see more evidence that there was contemporary opinion that ranked him among the best - all pro teams etc. Remember, the height of the Minneapolis Marines was around 1916, and their reputation as a pre-war powerhouse under Ursella's leadership carried them into the NFL, where they did no...

A bit about Ursella as a tactician: When Reuben Ursella took over as coach and quarterback of the Rock Island Independents in 1919, five hundred fans showed up at Douglas Park in Rock Island to watch him lead the Independents in their first workout, which included learning the fundamentals of the Mi...

About Reuben Ursella, and why I believe he belongs in the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good: Reuben John “Rube” Ursella, a black-haired, brown-eyed first-generation American of Italian heritage attended two years of high school at Minneapolis South but never played foot...