William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger
Blessing, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
WILLIAM WALTER “PUDGE” HEFFELFINGER “Pudge” Heffelfinger was born in 1867 in Minneapolis and began playing football at age 15. He organized a team at his high school and played four seasons at Yale on the varsity team where, in 1890, he conceived the idea of the pulling guard play. “Pudge” also played baseball, track and rowed on the Yale crew. He is considered the first professional football player in the U.S., being paid $500 to play in Pittsburgh in 1892. He coached college teams in three states, taking Yale football style to his California team. Heffelfinger married Matagorda county native Grace Harriett Pierce in 1901, and they had three children. “Pudge” was inducted into the college football hall of fame in 1951. He passed away in 1954 at his home near blessing. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Minneapolis in 1867, William 'Pudge' Heffelfinger became one of football's foundational figures, starring as a guard at Yale where in 1890 he devised the pulling-guard play still used today. In 1892 he was paid $500 to play a game in Pittsburgh, an event widely credited as making him the first professional football player in America. He later coached across the country, married Matagorda County native Grace Pierce, and died near Blessing in 1954, three years after entering the College Football Hall of Fame.
Why it matters
It marks the home of the man often called America's first pro football player, at the very origins of the nation's most popular spectator sport.
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Related people
- · William Walter 'Pudge' Heffelfinger
- · Grace Harriett Pierce
Themes & tags
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