John Mohardt

John Henry Mohardt (January 21, 1898 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – November 24, 1961 in La Jolla, California) is a former professional football and baseball player who was a teammate of three of the most notable athletes in American sports history.

Mohardt played football and baseball at the University of Notre Dame from 1918 through 1921. Mohardt was a college football teammate of George Gipp at Notre Dame, serving as Gipp's stalwart blocker during the Fighting Irish's undefeated season of 1920. Mohardt was accused of participating as a ringer in the Carlinville-Taylorville, Illinois professional game in 1921, but was later cleared of any connection with the scandal when Mohardt presented evidence that he was in school in South Bend, Indiana on the day of the contest.

Mohardt played in the National Football League for the Chicago Cardinals, Racine Legion, and Chicago Bears from 1922 - 1925. One of Mohardt's teammates with the 1925 Bears was pro football Hall of Famer Red Grange.

Mohardt also played in five major league baseball games in 1922 with the Detroit Tigers. Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb was the player-manager of the Tigers at the time. In his lone official at-bat in the majors, which came on April 21, 1922, Mohardt singled off Cleveland's Charlie Jamieson, an outfielder who was called upon to pitch in a lopsided game.

Mohardt later earned an M.D. and served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. He committed suicide in La Jolla, California by severing his femoral artery.

Sources

• "Accused Football Men Have Alibis" (PDF). The New York Times. 1922-01-30. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D00E4DB1531EF33A25753C3A9679C946395D6CF&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
• "All-Time PLayers" (html). http://www.nfl.com/players/johnnymohardt/profile?id=MOH166116. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
• "THE TAYLORVILLE SCANDAL" (html). http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=scandal. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
• "Notre Damn Fighting Irish, The Official Athletic Site" (PDF). http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/Football-Supplement-07. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
• Baseball A Doubleheader Collection of Facts, Feats, & Firsts. St. Louis, Mo.: The Sporting News Publishing Co.. 1992. ISBN 0-88365-785-6. .
• "Football and America, World War II _Pro Football Hall of Fame" (html). http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/war/worldwar2/honor_roll.jsp. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
• "A Singular Sideline" (PDF). http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv07/CFHSNv07n4e.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-22.