Jack Depler

Jack Depler

Date of birth	(1899-01-06)January 6, 1899
Place of birth	Lewistown, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death	Lewistown, Illinois
Career information
Position(s)	Tackle, center
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg)
College	Illinois
Career history
As coach
1922–1928	Columbia Lions (assistant)
1929	Orange Tornadoes
1930–1931	Brooklyn Dodgers
As player
1921	Hammond Pros
1929	Orange Tornadoes
As owner
1930–1933	Brooklyn Dodgers
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-American (1920) Second-team All-American (1919) National Champion (1919)
Career stats
Playing stats at NFL.com Coaching stats at Pro Football Reference

John Charles Depler (January 6, 1899 – December 5, 1970) was a professional football player and coach. Prior to his professional career, he played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team of the University of Illinois. There he helped lead Illinois to its second national championship in 1919, and earned first-team All-American honors in 1920. After graduation, Depler played for the Hammond Pros of the National Football League (NFL). The following year he was hired as an assistant coach to Frank "Buck" O'Neill, at Columbia University, where he stayed for the next eight seasons.

In 1929, Depler rejoined the NFL as a player-coach with the Orange Tornadoes. In following season, he bought the Dayton Triangles and relocated the team to Brooklyn, New York, with the help of Bill Dwyer, an early Prohibition gangster and bootlegger. Depler was now the co-founder and coach of the NFL's new Brooklyn Dodgers.

After a successful first season, little went right for the club. After the team's second season, Depler resigned as coach and the team was sold to Chris Cagle and Shipwreck Kelly.