 Hapes seen in an early college photograph | |||||||||||||
| No. 44, 30, 20, 84, 80 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Fullback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1919-05-19)May 19, 1919 Garden Grove, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | July 18, 1994(1994-07-18) (aged 75) Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Garden Grove (Garden Grove, California) | ||||||||||||
| College | Ole Miss | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1942: 1st round, 8th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Merle Allison Hapes (May 19, 1919 – July 18, 1994) was an American professionalfootball player who was afullback in theNational Football League (NFL) and theInterprovincial Rugby Football Union. He played two seasons for theNew York Giants (1942, 1946), in between which he served in the Army Air Force during World War II, and then played five seasons for theHamilton Tiger-Cats and their predecessor, winning the 1953 Grey Cup.
Hapes played fullback with the University of Mississippi from 1939 to 1941 and was then drafted in the 1st Round of the NFL draft by the New York Giants.
He was the starting fullback for the Giants in 1941 and then served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946. Upon returning from the war, he returned to the Giants.
He and quarterbackFrank Filchock were involved in a gambling scandal in 1946 in which they allegedly took bribes to fix the1946 NFL Championship Game.
Since the betting scandal meant he was indefinitely suspended from playing professional football in the United States, he went to Canada to play in theOntario Rugby Football Union. Hapes played one season for theHamilton Tigers in 1949. The Tigers merged with the crosstown rivalHamilton Wildcats to become theHamilton Tiger-Cats in 1950 with the merged team taking the Wildcats' place in theInterprovincial Rugby Football Union, a forerunner of the modernCanadian Football League. However, Hapes was injured for the entire season. For the next two seasons he was an assistant coach with the Tiger-Cats, but returned to play as a backup for two final seasons, winning theGrey Cup with Hamilton in1953.[1]
Hapes returned to the States and worked in the Civil Service and the Department of Defence until 1982. In 1993 Hapes was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame of Mississippi.
Hapes died on July 18, 1994.[2]
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