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Bob Shiring

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Bob Shiring
Date of birth1870
Place of birthPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Date of deathJuly 23, 1957(1957-07-23) (aged 86–87)
Place of deathPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Career information
Position(s)Center
US collegeNone
Career history
As coach
1907–1909Pittsburgh Lyceum
As player
c.1894–1900Pittsburgh Athletic Club
1901Homestead Library & A. C.
1902Pittsburgh Stars
1903–1906Massillon Tigers
1907Massillon All-Stars
1907–1909Pittsburgh Lyceum
Career highlights and awards

Charles Robert "Bob" Shiring (1870 – July 23, 1957) was a professional football player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1] He began his playing career with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club during the late 1890s and the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901. In 1902, he played for the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League, who ended up winning the league title. Since the Stars consisted of the best professional players from western Pennsylvania at the time, it can be said that Shiring was considered the best at his position, center, in the region (and probably in the country).[2] However Shring is best known for playing for the Massillon Tigers from 1903 until 1907.[3] He finally served from 1907 to 1909 as a player-coach for the Pittsburgh Lyceum,[1] Pittsburgh's last championship professional football team, until the 1970s.[4]

Playing career

In 1901, Shiring was hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club to fill in for the injured Pete Overfield. From the moment he took the field, Shiring never left the Homestead line-up. The following season, he played alongside Christy Mathewson of the New York Baseball Giants for the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. In 1903, Shiring travelled to Ohio and continued his playing career with the Massillon Tigers of the Ohio League. He played for the Tigers until 1907 and served as a team captain for three of his four seasons in Massillon.[1] A photograph of Shiring, as the Massillon captain, is currently hanging inside of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio.[5] Massillon residents reportedly attempted to persuade Shiring to move to their town during and after his time Tigers, however he returned to Pennsylvania in 1907.[1] That season, he became the player-coach for the Pittsburgh Lyceum football team.[6] Throughout his career, Shiring refused to wear shoulder pads while playing. When asked why he refused to wear pads, Shiring responded by saying, "because they hinder me getting through the line." His only padding concession was that he would wear shin guards.[1]

Role in the Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal

Further information: Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal

In 1906 Shiring was a figure in a betting scandal between the Massillon Tigers and the rival Canton Bulldogs. The Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal was the first major scandal in professional football. It was the first known case of professional gamblers attempting to fix a professional sport. It refers to an allegation made by a Massillon newspaper charging the Bulldogs' coach, Blondy Wallace, and Tigers' end Walter East of conspiring to fix a two-game championship series between the two clubs. When the Tigers won the second and final game of a championship series and were named pro football's champions, Wallace was accused of throwing the game for Canton.[7][8]

However E. J. Stewart, the Tigers' coach and the editor of the Massillon Independent, charged that an actual attempt was made to bribe some of the Tiger players and that Wallace had been involved. His accusation was that an attempt had been made to bribe some Massillion players before the first game. According to Stewart, Tiny Maxwell and Shiring of Massillon had been solicited to throw the first game by East. Maxwell and Shiring then reported the offer to the Tigers' manager and the scandal ended before it began. The scandal was blamed for ruining professional football in Ohio until the mid-1910s.[8]

Outside of football

Shring left school at the age of 13 and worked with his brothers at the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.[1] The job resulted in him moving his family from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania to nearby Wilmerding. He built his family's house in 1898, which was picked up and moved across the street in the 1960s, to make room for an expressway. The house remains in that location to this day.[9]

Shiring later spent 50 years as a borough official in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania,[10] where he served as the town's squire, which is the equivalent of a magistrate, in addition to being the elected Wilmerding's tax collector in 1903. He also opened a business, working in the insurance and real estate fields. He fathered nine children and remained close to his home in Wilmerding.[5]

On July 23, 1957 Shiring died in a Pittsburgh hospital.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Smith, Chester L. (July 25, 1957). "A Real Player Passes On". Pittsburgh Press.
  2. ^ Carroll, Bob (1980). "Dave Berry and the Philadelphia Story" (PDF). Coffin Corner. 2 (Annual). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-15.
  3. ^ Carroll, Bob. "Ohio Tiger Trap" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-26.
  4. ^ PFRA Research. "Glamourless Gridirons: 1907-09" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-26.
  5. ^ a b Jacobs, Susan (July 11, 2007). "'She Lived Wilmerding'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  6. ^ "Lyceum Team Eager to Keep it's Slate Clean". Pittsburgh Press. November 10, 1907.
  7. ^ Peterson, Robert W. (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511913-4.
  8. ^ a b "Blondy Wallace and the Biggest Football Scandal Ever" (PDF). PFRA Annual. 5. Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–16. 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-28.
  9. ^ Guidry, Nate (July 16, 2007). "Wilmerding Tax Collector for 44 Years". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  10. ^ a b "Famed Massillon Grid Player of Half Century Ago Passes Away". Washington Reporter. July 24, 1957.

References

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