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| No. 12, 2, 13 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | End |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | (1894-01-16)January 16, 1894 Blue Springs, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died: | April 4, 1967(1967-04-04) (aged 73) Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight: | 196 lb (89 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Blue Springs (NE) |
| College: | Nebraska |
| Career history | |
As a player: | |
| |
As a coach: | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  U.S. Army |
| Years of service | 1918–1919 |
| Coaching profile at Pro Football Reference | |
| Stats atPro Football Reference | |
Berlin Guy "Champ"Chamberlin (January 16, 1894 – April 4, 1967), sometimes misspelledGuy Chamberlain, was an American professionalfootball player and coach. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1962 and thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1965. He was also named in 1969 to theNFL 1920s All-Decade Team.
A native ofBlue Springs, Nebraska, Chamberlin playedcollege football as ahalfback atNebraska Wesleyan University in 1911 and 1912. He transferred to theUniversity of Nebraska in 1913 and played at the halfback andend positions for the undefeated1914 and1915 Nebraska Cornhuskers football teams that won consecutiveMissouri Valley Conference championships. He was a consensus first-team All-American in 1915, and he was selected in 1936 as the greatest player in Nebraska football history.
He played professional football for nine years with theCanton Bulldogs (1919),Decatur / Chicago Staleys (1920–1921), Canton Bulldogs (1922–1923),Cleveland Bulldogs (1924),Frankford Yellow Jackets (1925–1926), andChicago Cardinals (1927). He won professional football championships in six of his nine seasons in professional football: as a player in 1919 with the undefeated Bulldogs and in 1921 with the Staleys, and as a player/coach in 1922, 1923, and 1924 with the Bulldogs and in 1926 with the Yellow Jackets. He compiled a 58-16-7 record in six years as a head coach in theNational Football League (NFL), the best win percentage (.759) of any coach in NFL history with a minimum 50 wins. He is also the only coach to win NFL championships with three different clubs.
Chamberlin was born inBlue Springs, Nebraska, in 1894.[1] He was raised with five siblings on a family farm in Blue Springs. He graduated from Blue Springs High School in 1911.[2]
In the fall of 1911, Chamberlin enrolled atNebraska Wesleyan University inLincoln, Nebraska. Chamberlin was selected by theOmaha World-Herald as an all-state halfback while playing for the undefeated 1911 Nebraska Wesleyan football team that won theNIAA championship. Chamberlin also competed for Nebraska Wesleyan in baseball as a pitcher and outfielder and in track as a sprinter and weight man.[2]
He returned to the Nebraska Wesleyan football team in the fall of 1912 and was again selected as an all-state player. In announcing its selection of Chamberlin to the all-state team, theOmaha World-Herald wrote: "Chamberlin is almost in a class by himself. He is a fierce and aggressive runner and adopts the system of bowling over the opposing tacklers in much the same style as the famous Coy of Yale. Chamberlin rarely used a stiff arm, and yet many times it was next to impossible to stop him."[2]
In the fall of 1913, Chamberlin transferred to theUniversity of Nebraska in Lincoln. There he became a member ofBeta Theta Pi fraternity.[3] He played halfback forJumbo Stiehm's undefeated1914 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team that won theMissouri Valley Conference championship and became known as the "Stiehm Rollers". At the end of the 1914 season, Chamberlin was named toOuting magazine's "Football Roll of Honor: The Men Whom the Best Coaches of the Country Have Named as the Stars of the Gridiron in 1914".[4]
In 1915, Chamberlin moved to theend position for the undefeated1915 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team that again won the Missouri Valley championship. He led the team with 15 touchdowns.[2] After leading the Cornhuskers to a 20–19 victory over Notre Dame, TheOmaha World-Herald wrote of Chamberlin: "His defensive stunts bordered upon the miraculous, while his open field running, in which he displayed that famous 'side walk trot' to the best advantage, brought victory to the colors of the Cornhuskers."[2] In his final game for Nebraska, Chamberlin scored four touchdowns, including a 60-yard touchdown run, in a 52–7 victory over Iowa.[5] At the end of the season, he was a consensus All-American on the1915 College Football All-America Team with first-team honors fromFrank G. Menke,[6]Walter Eckersall,[7] andParke H. Davis.[8] He graduated from Nebraska in 1916.[2]
After graduating from Nebraska, Chamberlin returned to the family farm.[2] In August 1916, he was hired as the athletic director and football coach atDoane College inCrete, Nebraska.[2][9] In 1917, he returned to work on his father's farm inBlue Springs, Nebraska.[10]
Chamberlin served in theUnited States Army from May 1918 to October 1919. He served in a field artillery unit with the rank of second lieutenant and was stationed atCamp Zachary Taylor inLouisville, Kentucky,Fort Sill in Oklahoma, andCamp Kearny inSan Diego County, California.[2]
Chamberlin began playing professional football in 1919 as an end forJim Thorpe's undefeated1919 Canton Bulldogs, winners of that year's unofficial professional football championship with a 9–0–1 record.[2][11]
In August 1920, theAmerican Professional Football Association (APFA, later renamed theNational Football League) was organized. Chamberlin signed withGeorge Halas'1920 Decatur Staleys team that compiled a 10–1–2 record and finished second in the APFA.[11] At the end of the 1920 season, Chamberlin was selected as a first-team end on the firstAll-Pro Team.[12][13]
In 1921, Chamberlin played as a center fielder for the Staleys baseball team during the summer,[14] and he remained with the organization as theStaleys football team moved toChicago and won the APFA championship with a 9–1–1 record. On December 3, 1921, before a crowd of 13,000 inChicago, the Staleys defeated the first-placeBuffalo All-Americans in what was touted as the championship game. In the victory over Buffalo, Chamberlain intercepted a pass and returned it 90 yards for the game-winning touchdown.[15][16]
George Halas, who coached Chamberlin with the Staleys, wrote in 1957: "Chamberlin was the best 2-way end I've ever seen. He was a tremendous tackler on defense and a triple-threat performer on offense."[2]
In 1922, Chamberlin joined theCanton Bulldogs in multiple roles as a player, head coach, team captain, and part owner.[17][18] He strengthened the team in the off-season by signing guardTarzan Taylor, with whom he had played on the Staleys, and tackleLink Lyman, an All-American who played at Chamberlin's alma mater, Nebraska.[19] Chamberlin led the1922 Bulldogs to an NFL championship with an undefeated 10–0–2 record. The team shut out nine of twelve opponents and allowed only 15 points in 12 games.[17] Three players from the 1922 Bulldogs (Chamberlin, Lyman, andPete Henry) were later inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame. Chamberlin led the team in scoring with seven touchdowns, two of them on interception returns.[17] He played at the halfback position in the first game of the season and at end for the remaining 12 games; he reportedly "played every minute of the thirteen games."[20]
Chamberlin returned to the Bulldogs as player/coach the following year.[21] The1923 team had another undefeated season (11–0–1), shut out eight of twelve opponents, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 246 to 19, and won its second consecutive NFL championship.[22] After the season, Chamberlin was selected as a first-team All-Pro player byCollyer's Eye magazine.[23][24]
In August 1924, Cleveland jewelerSamuel Deutsch bought the Canton Bulldogs and moved the team to Cleveland where they became theCleveland Bulldogs during the1924 NFL season.[25] With Chamberlin still serving as player/coach, the Bulldogs compiled a 7–1–1 record, outscored opponents by a total of 229 to 60, and won their third consecutive NFL championship.[26] After the 1924 season, Chamberlin was again selected as a first-team All-Pro byCollyer's Eye and a third-team All-Pro by theGreen Bay Press-Gazette.[27]
In three seasons with the Bulldogs, Chamberlin led the franchise to three NFL championships and a record of 28–1–4, having outscored opponents by a combined total of 659 to 94.[17][22][26]Dave Noble, who played for the 1924 Bulldogs, explained Chamberlin's coaching success as follows: "Guy Chamberlain knows as much or more football than any other coach in the country. Moreover, he has a faculty for getting the most out of players, not because he is a driver, for he isn't that sort, but because they like him and will do their utmost to please him by playing hard."[28]
In 1925, Chamberlin joined theFrankford Yellow Jackets inPhiladelphia as player and coach. He led the1925 Frankford team to a 15–7 overall record, 13–7 against NFL opponents.[29] The team had compiled a 9–1 record in its first 10 games, but Chamberlin suffered a broken shoulder in a game against Akron,[30] and the Yellow Jackets lost six of the next eight games.[29] Chamberlin returned to the lineup in mid-December and led the team to victories in its final two games.
In 1926, Chamberlin returned to Philadelphia and appeared in all 17 games as a player, despite being the oldest player on the team at age 32. He led the1926 Yellow Jackets to an NFL championship with a 14–1–2 record, shutting out 10 NFL opponents and outscoring all NFL opponents, 236 to 49.[31] On December 4, 1926, the Yellow Jackets defeated the previously unbeatenChicago Bears, 7–6, to secure the championship. In a 1968 book titled "Pro Football's All-time Greats", the author wrote that Chamberlin blocked both an extra point and a field goal in the victory over the Bears,[2] though contemporary accounts do not corroborate the claim.[32]
Chamberlin left the team after the 1926 season for unclear reasons; sports historianBob Carroll notes that "one [theory] is that Chamberlin and the players he wanted were too costly. Another theory is that he was fired as a result of a power battle within the Frankford organization."[33] In two years at Frankford, Chamberlin led the Yellow Jackets to Philadelphia's first NFL championship and compiled a 27-8-2 record against NFL opponents.[29][31]
In August 1927, Chamberlin signed as player/coach for theChicago Cardinals.[34] With the exception ofBen Jones, the 1927 Cardinals lacked star players, and Chamberlin at age 33 started only one game. The team compiled a 3–7–1 and finished ninth in the NFL.[35]
With a 58-16-7 record in six years as an NFL head coach,[1] Chamberlin has the best win percentage (.759) of any coach in NFL history with a minimum of 50 wins. SeeList of National Football League head coaches with 50 wins. His accomplishment of winning a championship with three separate franchises in amajor North American sports league would not be matched until 1997, whenScotty Bowman won the1997 Stanley Cup Finals.[33]
Chamberlin received numerous honors for his accomplishments as a football player and coach. His honors include the following:
Chamberlin was married twice. He married Lucile B. Lees in 1919.[2] They had a daughter, Patricia, born in 1923.[46][47][48] Chamberlin and his first wife were divorced.[2] In 1941, he was married to Bernyce Gertrude Weekes.[49]
After retiring from football, was a salesman inCleveland for several years. He returned to Blue Springs in 1932, where he managed his father's farm. In 1948, he moved toNebraska City, Nebraska, where he owned and operated a Ford-Ferguson agricultural equipment dealership. In 1954 or 1955, he sold the Ford-Ferguson business and moved toLincoln, Nebraska, where he was employed as a guard at the Nebraska State Reformatory. He retired in 1962.[2]
Chamberlin died in 1967 at age 73 inLincoln, Nebraska.[50] Per Chamberlin's request, his body was cremated, and his ashes were either spread in his hometown,Blue Springs, Nebraska,[51] or placed near the Schillerlinden tree north of Architectural Hall on theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln campus.[2]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Post season | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| CAN | 1922 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 1st in NFL | – | – | – | NFL Champions |
| CAN | 1923 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 1st in NFL | – | – | – | NFL Champions |
| CTN Total | 21 | 0 | 3 | 1.000 | – | – | – | – | ||
| CLE | 1924 | 7 | 1 | 1 | .875 | 1st in NFL | – | – | – | NFL Champions on tiebreaker overChicago Bears |
| CLE Total | 7 | 1 | 1 | .875 | – | – | – | – | ||
| FYJ | 1925 | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | 6th in NFL | – | – | – | – |
| FYJ | 1926 | 14 | 1 | 2 | .933 | 1st in NFL | – | – | – | NFL Champions |
| FYJ Total | 27 | 8 | 2 | .771 | – | – | – | – | ||
| CHI | 1927 | 3 | 7 | 1 | .300 | 9th in NFL | – | – | – | – |
| CHI Total | 3 | 7 | 1 | .300 | – | – | – | – | ||
| Total | 58 | 16 | 7 | .759 | – | – | – | – | ||
