Merle Hapes
 Hapes seen in an early college photograph | |||||||||
| No. 44, 30 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Fullback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | May 19, 1919 Garden Grove, California, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | July 18, 1994 (aged 75) Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S. | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Ole Miss | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1942 / round: 1 / pick: 8 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Merle Alison Hapes (May 19, 1919 – July 18, 1994) was a professional American football fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He played two seasons for the New York Giants (1942, 1946).
He and quarterback Frank Filchock were involved in a gambling scandal in 1946 in which they allegedly took bribes to fix the 1946 NFL Championship Game.
Since the betting scandal meant he was indefinitely suspended from playing professional football in the United States, he went to Canada to play in the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Hapes played one season for the Hamilton Tigers in 1949. The Tigers merged with the crosstown rival Hamilton Wildcats to become the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1950 with the merged team taking the Wildcats' place in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a forerunner of the modern Canadian Football League. However, Hapes was injured for the entire season. For the next two seasons he was an assistant coach with the Tiger-Cats, but returned to play as a backup for two final seasons, winning the Grey Cup with Hamilton in 1953.[1]
Hapes returned to the States and worked in the Civil Service and the Department of Defence until 1982. In 1993 Hapes was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame of Mississippi.
Hapes died on July 18, 1994.[2]
References
- ^ CFLAPEDIA entey: Merle Hapes
- ^ "Merle Hapes, 75, Ex-Giant Fullback". The New York Times. July 21, 1994. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
External links
- Career statistics from Pro Football Reference
- Merle Hapes at Find a Grave
 | This biographical article relating to an American football running back born in the 1910s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1919 births
- 1994 deaths
- American football fullbacks
- American players of Canadian football
- Hamilton Tigers football players
- Hamilton Tiger-Cats players
- New York Giants players
- Ole Miss Rebels football players
- Ontario Rugby Football Union players
- Sportspeople from Garden Grove, California
- Players of American football from Orange County, California
- American football running back, 1910s birth stubs