Fred Evans (running back)
![]() Evans in 1946
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No. 99 | |||||
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Position: | Running back | ||||
Personal information | |||||
Date of birth: | May 23, 1921 | ||||
Place of birth: | Grand Rapids, Michigan | ||||
Date of death: | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. | ||||
Place of death: | Cleveland, Ohio | ||||
Height: | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). | ||||
Weight: | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). | ||||
Career information | |||||
High school: | South Bend (IN) Riley | ||||
College: | Notre Dame | ||||
NFL draft: | 1943 / Round: 3 / Pick: 24 | ||||
Career history | |||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||
Career NFL statistics as of 1948 | |||||
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Player stats at PFR |
Fred Owen "Dippy" Evans Jr. (May 23, 1921 – June 21, 2007)[1] was a professional American football halfback who played for three years in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL) in the late 1940s.
Evans grew up in South Bend, Indiana and attended James Whitcomb Riley High School. He went to the University of Notre Dame and played halfback and fullback on the school's football team starting in 1940. After graduating from college, Evans joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, where he stayed until his discharge in 1945. He then signed with the Browns, a team in the new AAFC, where he played for one year. He subsequently played for the Buffalo Bills, the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Rockets in 1947 and 1948.
Evans moved to Cleveland after his playing career and owned a dry cleaning business. He died in 2007.
Contents
Early life and high school
Evans was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and moved to Detroit before his family settled in South Bend, Indiana.[2] Evans attended James Whitcomb Riley High School in South Bend, where he played football, baseball, basketball and track.[2] He was named an all-state halfback in his senior year.[2]
College and military career
Evans attended the University of Notre Dame, where he played at left halfback for the school's football team starting as a sophomore in 1940.[3] He moved to fullback the following year, when Notre Dame went undefeated under coach Frank Leahy.[3][4] Evans led the team in rushing yards and scoring in 1941.[3]
Evans was considered shy but tough. Before a game against the University of Southern California (USC) in 1941, Bill Riordan, a teammate, poured a bucket of water over Evans's head. Evans tried to retaliate but crashed into a wall and split his knee open. He concealed the injury from Leahy and played in the USC game, but needed 11 stitches afterward.[3]
After graduating in 1942, Evans was drafted by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League.[5] His professional football career, however, was delayed by service in World War II.[3] Evans signed up for the United States Army Air Corps and flew P-51 Mustangs with the Flying Tigers, a unit that defended China against Japanese incursion during the war.[2] While in the air corps, Evans played for the Randolph Field Ramblers, a military team at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.[6] Randolph won the national service title in 1944, when Evans was on the team.[6]
Professional career
In 1945, Evans became the fourth player signed by the Cleveland Browns, a team under formation in the new All-America Football Conference, which was to start play in 1946.[6] Evans was the first player to score points for the Browns in their inaugural exhibition game on August 30 against the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Akron Rubber Bowl.[2] He scored a touchdown on a seven-yard pass from quarterback Cliff Lewis; he later intercepted a pass and returned it 83 yards for another touchdown.[7] Later in the season, Evans twisted his knee and was sidelined for more than a month.[8][9] The Browns went on to win the first AAFC championship in 1946.[10]
Before the beginning of the 1947 season, Evans was sent to the Buffalo Bills in a special draft designed to help the AAFC's weaker teams.[11] He played for the Chicago Rockets and Chicago Bears in 1947 and 1948.[12]
Later life and death
Evans came back to Cleveland after his football career and owned a dry cleaning business called Handee Cleaners in the city's West Park area.[2] He transferred ownership of the business to his son Mark after he retired.[2] Evans died in 2007 of bone cancer.[13]
References
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- ↑ Piascik 2007, p. 64.
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Bibliography
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External links
- NFL player with currentposition parameter
- NFL player using deprecated currentteam parameter
- NFL player with pastcoaching parameter
- NFL player with pastexecutive parameter
- NFL player missing current team parameter
- Infobox NFL player article with alt text
- Infobox NFL player with debut/final parameters
- Pages using infobox NFL player with dbf parameter
- 1921 births
- 2007 deaths
- American football running backs
- Chicago Bears players
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
- Sportspeople from Detroit, Michigan
- Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Sportspeople from South Bend, Indiana
- Players of American football from Indiana
- Cancer deaths in Ohio
- Deaths from bone cancer