Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Bronko Nagurski comes in at number 19 on NFL Films' "The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players" list produced in 2010. Subscribe to NFL Films: goo.gl/XJTggL
Nick Maple anyone else notice why the NFL was way better back then and filled with hardworking-low paid athletes? because it was Vastly WHITE. y’all that r too stubborn to disagree r the sheep’s that riddle today’s society. 1 that requires no snitching/and to be fake 100% of the time.
I knew him when i was a young kid. He owned a Pure Oil gas station in later life and we would stop by after school and get a pop and he would tell us football stories. A gentile giant.
I remember reading the story of how he was found by the U of M in college. "Nagurski was discovered and signed by University of Minnesota head coach Clarence Spears, who drove to International Falls, MN to meet another player. On the outside of town, he watched Nagurski out plowing a field by himself with no help. According to legend, Spears asked for directions and Bronko lifted his plow and used it to point him in the right direction."
There were a lot of crazy stories made up about Nagurski, but one of my favorite probably true stories was from a very good tackle (whose name, unfortunately, I do not remember at the moment), who said that the first time his team played the Bears he was told to take down Nagurski. They met at the line of scrimmage, and he worked as hard as he could, and he finally brought down the great Nagurski, and as he got up he heard the referee say, "second and two."
dchenkin02 actually if you just do one simple google search you will learn that it was not until the 40’s that it was scripted, but even back then it was still very dangerous And kinda like boxing with how popular it was
When these first came out, I watched every episode (I was and still am a huge sports and football fan) and this was one of my favorite guys on the list.
That is a bad man...I had never heard his story...pretty awesome...I can see why he is so high on the list...I must say though, as an old Dolphins fan his runs look very reminiscent of Larry Csonka.
I grew up in International Falls, MN. As a young boy, I was taken by my dad to meet Bronco where he was managing a service station subsequent to his football retirement. My dad told me to look at Bronko's hands which I did. Bronco said his ring size was 19. True story.
Lifelong Bears fan here, and happy to see these LEGENDS well represented in the top 100. Nagurski, Luckman, Grange, Ect.. It's funny... I sometimes here crap from your typical Raiders fan types, telling me Chicago Bears only ever won 1 championship! Then when you point out that they've won nearly 10, they pull that "everything before the Superbowl doesn't count". Lol I'd love to see them tell a guy like Nagurski or Butkus that their career was meaningless. #BEARDOWN
@@ibaIIhog typical pack-hole response. You wouldn't catch a Bears fan posting "BEAR DOWN" on one of your teams legends video. We have more class and reverence for these amazing players - regardless of team.
@@folkblues4u how TF can you compare 1920's NFL too today NFL there's no comparison even just by the fact black people couldn't play either makes that much more less compatitve
I remember coming home late from work on Sunday nights from work, now this was during and after the football season, and NFL Films Present was always on tv, ESPN, I think. The history of the NFL was there and it was beautiful to watch. It wasn't glamorous, it was dirty and muddy like football is supposed to be. And, best of all, it was the history, the beginning and the in between of the sport that connect me with the current games. It's a damn shame it's not being put there for the young fans like it was back then.
The first time I read / heard about Bronko Nagurski was in William Goldman's 1976 book "Magic." Goldman's description of Bronko was in super-human terms, and I felt as if I was hearing the game being played on one of those BIG Radios that families used to gather around. The story is encapsulated in 5-6 pp and I marveled at how Mr. Goldman described the Herculean effort of Bronko as he trudged down the field gaining a yard or two on each run. Again, again, and again and well, you should read about it yourself. Luckily for me my library still had a copy and I got to read that thrilling adrenaline-rush of prose once again!
There was still an NHL player who wasn't wearing a helmet in the 1990's. It was old school football back then. The helmets they had were useless against blows to the head.
gotta give some credit, while he def beat down those defensive players, they went at him with full force. Genuinely fearless, big creds to the defense. He may have been untaimable, but they weren't about to shy away.
Putting Nagurski as low as 19 shows what a farce this list is. No runner in history tore through defenses as he did. This man played, as did many greats, long before there were professional trainers, long before weight programs (the story was that weights made one "muscle-bound" and ruined dexterity and athletic abilities), long before humans knew to put ice on to stop swelling (they used heat up thru the 1960s!!), and back in the day when tacklers could do almost anything to a runner. The spoiled babies of the current generation wouldn't last a day on those fields of old. Nagurski was a natural athlete, one who excelled at every sport he played. He has to be in the top five. On top of that, the players made spit. They played because they loved to play. Many were injured and died from their injuries, so many that president Roosevelt and Taft intervened to have safer rules put in the game. Even in the 1930s, there were discussions in congress of banning the game at the professional level. Don't think they won't do it. They practically banned boxing for years.
Absolutely agree! Heard a story from Virginia McCaskey at the Bears centennial event where she said Bronko, after football, bought a gas station. Not as an investment, but as employment. He had a lot of repeat customers... because when Bronko put your gas cap back on your gas tank, it STAYED ON until Bronko took it off again. Lol. Thought that was a great story and a testament to his freakish strength. They just don't make em like him too often.
lilly bloom If you played before integration I’m guessing that played a huge part in decreasing ranking because it was a lot more difficult to do that once all races could play in the NFL. Nagurski didn’t do that
What do you want him to be at # 1? considering all the great running backs out of the nfl being chosen 19 is a great honor...which i think is to low for him
People try to talk smack about the modern day Bears but seem to forget that the Bears (and also the Packers) helped make football popular and what it is today. BEAR DOWN.
As I kid, I was that most unusual combination: a nerd and a jock. Which meant I liked to read books about football and football players. One that I frequently returned to was "Great Moments in Pro Football" by Zander Hollander. Bronko Nagurski is all over the early chapters, which start with the first NFL championship in 1934 between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. Much like Red Grange in the 1920s, he was the defining player of his era. The figure that kept people interested in the sport.
In his 1976 book "Magic," author William Goldman devotes 5-6 pp to a fictional (?) story about Bronko Nagurski playing in a game. It's an exceptional and stunning piece of writing (what else would you expect from Mr. Goldman) and the reader feels as if she / he too were on the field playing with Bronko. It's one of my favorite passages in all of the books I have read. Goldman turns the man into a Legend! And maybe he was!
were fullbacks used like running backs back then like High school offense now?We use a B-back which is a fullback equilvlant and A-back which is a running back in my school, but we also have a triple option-based offense.
Yes, back in the day where the best players played offense defense AND special teams. Never came off the field. I'd like to see some of the guys in today's NFL try and play both ways all game, it would be a train wreck.
Jordan Anderson bronko Nagurski was born in Rainy River Ontario which is Northwest Ontario near Lake of the Woods he died in International Falls Minnesota
@@jordananderson2728 I don't think so. Why would you say your life is a lie? I read a long time ago that he was actually born in Sault Saint Marie Ontario which is right across the bridge from Sault Saint Marie Michigan. I guess my life was a lie too and I just looked it up a while ago. Oh my gosh this man was huge for the NFL at that time. He was as big as Jim Brown it was around twenty-five years after him.
I know it's hard to compare players from different eras and I don't like to do it but he should be higher in this list for all he meant and for how superior he was back then
I get the point you are trying to make, but this video kinda torpedoes that point when it shows Nagurski on the field and he literally looks like a freaking GIANT compared to everybody else.
