 Yonakor while playing for the Cleveland Browns | |||||||||
| No. 50, 74, 79 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | End Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1921-08-04)August 4, 1921 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | April 18, 2001(2001-04-18) (aged 79) Euclid, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 222 lb (101 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Mechanic Arts (Boston, Massachusetts) | ||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1945: 1st round, 9th pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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John Joseph "Jumbo" Yonakor (August 4, 1921 – April 18, 2001) was an American professionalfootballdefensive andoffensive end in theAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) andNational Football League (NFL) for theCleveland Browns,New York Yanks, andWashington Redskins.
Yonakor grew up inBoston, Massachusetts and playedcollege football at theUniversity of Notre Dame, where he was named anAll-American on a team that won the national championship in 1943. After two years in the military duringWorld War II, Yonakor was selected in the first round of the1945 NFL draft by thePhiladelphia Eagles. He instead signed with the Browns of the upstart AAFC. Yonakor spent four seasons playing primarily as a defensive end for the Browns as the team won four league championships between 1946 and 1949. The Browns then sold Yonakor to the NFL's New York Yanks, where he played for a year. He then spent a season with theMontreal Alouettes in theCanadian Football League. Returning to the NFL in 1952, he played a final season for the Redskins before retiring.
Yonakor worked in Cleveland's steel industry for several years after leaving pro football. He settled inEuclid, Ohio in the early 1960s and was an assembly-line worker making diesel engines forWhite Motor Company. His sonRich was a star athlete in Euclid and went on to play one season for theNational Basketball Association'sSan Antonio Spurs. Yonakor died in 2001.
Yonakor grew up in theDorchester neighborhood ofBoston, Massachusetts, the youngest son of immigrants fromLithuania.[1][2] At the age of 10, he came down with a leg infection after cutting himself while ice skating.[3] He was too embarrassed to tell his mother about the injury and hoped it would go away, but it worsened to the point where he could no longer walk.[3] Doctors drained fluid from his body by puncturing his toe, and Yonakor spent a year as an invalid; doctors told him he might never walk again.[3] Starting out by crawling, however, Yonakor gradually regained his strength and his health.[3] He went on to play three seasons of football atMechanic Arts High School, and spent one year atMarianapolis Preparatory School inThompson, Connecticut at the prompting ofFrank Leahy, then the head football coach atBoston College.[3] Yonakor was set to go to Boston College, but chose theUniversity of Notre Dame instead when Leahy became head football coach there in 1941.[3]
At Notre Dame inSouth Bend, Indiana, Yonakor played on the football team as anend beginning in 1942, when he was a sophomore.[1][4][5] He was a starter at right end in 1943, when theNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team won thenational championship under Leahy.[5] The highlight of his college career was catching two touchdown passes from quarterbackAngelo Bertelli in a game againstArmy.[3] Yonakor was known for his strength and large size. While watching track athletes practice at Notre Dame in 1943, he picked up a 16-poundshot putter's weight and returned it to the thrower.[6] Impressed by the distance of the throw, the track coach got Yonakor to compete in the event, and two weeks later Yonakor won theAmateur Athletic Union indoorshot put national competition atMadison Square Garden inNew York City.[5][6] He was named anAll-American by news outlets that year.[5]
Following the 1943 season, Yonakor spent two years in theU.S. Marines duringWorld War II and played on military football teams.[3] In 1944, he was selected to play in theCollege All-Star Game, a now-defunct matchup between theNational Football League (NFL) champion and a selection of the best college players in the country.[5]
Creighton Miller, a teammate of Yonakor's at Notre Dame, took an assistant coaching position after the war with theCleveland Browns, a team under formation in the newAll-America Football Conference (AAFC).[3] While Yonakor selected by thePhiladelphia Eagles in the first round of the1945 NFL draft, Miller convinced him to sign with the Browns instead.[3][5] The Browns won the AAFC championship in each of the four years Yonakor played for the team between 1946 and 1949.[7][8] He started out as primarily a pass-rushingdefensive end in 1946, but was also used as an offensive end when receiverDante Lavelli was injured in 1947.[6] After watching one of the Browns' early games, Leahy said that the Browns were good, but "I don't understand why they don't throw more passes to Yonakor".[6] He had just six receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns in 1947, however, and was shifted back to working mostly on defense in 1948.[9] Yonakor completed coursework at Notre Dame between seasons with the Browns and got his degree in 1948.[6][10] Yonakor got into contractual disputes three times withPaul Brown, the Browns' head coach and general manager, and frequently held out for raises.[11] His highest salary with the Browns was $9,500 in 1949.[11]
The AAFC dissolved after the 1949 season and the Browns were absorbed by theNational Football League (NFL). Yonakor, however, was sold before the 1950 season to the NFL'sNew York Yanks.[12] He played a season for the Yanks before signing with theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League in the summer of 1951.[13] he played a final season for the NFL'sWashington Redskins in 1952 before retiring.[8] He was used by the Redskins as an end and atackle.[14]
Yonakor went back home to Boston after ending his football career and worked in several sales jobs he found unsatisfying.[15] He planned to go toCalifornia to find work, but stopped off in Cleveland on the way to make some money for the journey onward. He worked briefly in the structural iron business before getting a job in 1956 atRepublic Steel, then one of the country's largest producers of the metal.[10][15] He was promoted in 1959 to superintendent of Republic's general labor department and oversaw more than 500 workers.[10] He got married and settled down in Cleveland, attending Browns games as he worked at Republic.[15] "I learned teamwork and got used to being around men and learning to get along with them," he said in 1960. "Out here at Republic we operate on the same theory as the Browns – all for one and one for all."[15]
In 1961, Yonakor began working for theWhite Motor Company inEuclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland where he lived.[16] He made diesel engines on an assembly line in a White Motors plant there.[11] His son,Rich Yonakor, was a star athlete in Euclid who played basketball inItaly and one season for theSan Antonio Spurs in the early 1980s.[17] Yonakor died in Euclid in 2001.[18]
Brown chooses to experiment with Gillom as his offensive right end rather than John Yonakor because of the former Notre Dame star's value on defense.
Among the old-timers is John Yonakor, who played end for the Browns during four years in the All-America Conference. John has been used at both end and tackle by the Redskins.
