1. Horace Albert "Big Horse" Gillom was an American professional football player who was a punter and end in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League.
49 Facts About Horace Gillom
1. 2.
Horace Gillom played ten seasons for the Cleveland Browns between 1947 and 1956.
3.
Horace Gillom became the first African American punter in NFL history.
4.
Horace Gillom followed Brown to Ohio State University in 1941, playing on the school's freshman football team before dropping out because of poor grades.
5.
Horace Gillom then entered the US Army and served for three years in World War II.
6.
Horace Gillom led the country in scoring in 1946 but left the school after the season, again because of poor grades.
7.
Horace Gillom signed with the Browns, an AAFC team coached by Brown, in 1947.
8.
Horace Gillom handled all of the team's punting chores and played as a utility end on both offense and defense.
9.
Horace Gillom was a consistent punter, never averaging below 41.2 yards per kick in a season.
10.
Horace Gillom's abilities declined in his later years and he was released during the 1956 season.
11.
Horace Gillom attempted a comeback in 1961 with the New York Titans of the American Football League, but failed to make the team.
12.
Horace Gillom moved to Los Angeles and worked as a security guard for the rest of his life.
13.
Horace Gillom was named in 2007 as a Cleveland Browns Legend, a grouping of the team's best-ever players.
14.
Horace Gillom contributed to the evolution of punting by standing further back from the center than was usual at the time to give himself more room to make kicks.
15.
Horace Gillom's kicks were high, which gave the coverage team more time to get down the field and stop punt returns.
16.
Horace Gillom grew up in Massillon, Ohio and attended Massillon Washington High School.
17.
Horace Gillom was a star end on the Massillon football team like his older brother Odell, but was a linebacker and punter.
18.
Bud Houghton, who coached him when he was in junior high school, said Horace Gillom needed a step and a half more than usual to get his punts off, but he was the best he had ever seen once he made the kick.
19.
Horace Gillom played for the Massillon Tigers between 1938 and 1940, a period during which the team won all of its games and two High School Football National Championships.
20.
Horace Gillom, who played basketball and other sports, earned All-Ohio honors at Massillon and was one of several black players on the team at a time when many northern high schools excluded them.
21.
Horace Gillom set school records for points scored in a season and touchdown passes caught in a season.
22.
Horace Gillom played on Ohio State's freshman team that year as an end opposite Dante Lavelli.
23.
Brown later said Horace Gillom did not fail any courses and was back at Ohio State doing "some extra reading in history that he can make up", but his struggles with classwork ultimately kept him off the Ohio State team in 1942.
24.
Horace Gillom enlisted in the US Army during World War II before he played on the varsity team.
25.
Horace Gillom fought in the European Theatre of World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge near the end of the war.
26.
Horace Gillom was discharged after three years of service, having earned three Bronze Star Medals.
27.
Horace Gillom signed with the Browns in early 1947, making him the third black player to join the team after Bill Willis and Motley.
28.
Horace Gillom became the first African American punter in NFL history.
29.
Horace Gillom's salary was $6,000 in the Browns' last AAFC year.
30.
Horace Gillom finished second in the league in punting average, with 43.2 yards.
31.
Horace Gillom led the NFL in punting in 1951, with a 45.5-yard average.
32.
Horace Gillom again led the league the following season, averaging 45.7 yards per punt, and was selected for the Pro Bowl, football's all-star game.
33.
Horace Gillom was second in the NFL in punting average in 1953.
34.
Horace Gillom's kicks had a long hang time, which allowed teammates to get further downfield to defend the punt return.
35.
Horace Gillom's positioning behind the center gave him more space to kick but put more distance between him and the opposing linemen, reducing the likelihood of a block.
36.
Horace Gillom had the league's second-longest punting average for the second year in a row.
37.
Horace Gillom never averaged below 41.2 yards per punt and was among the top three punters in his league in six of the eight years when he punted full-time.
38.
Horace Gillom punted more than 400 times from the start of his career before one was returned for a touchdown.
39.
Horace Gillom was a serviceable end, making 43 receptions when he played the position for periods in 1948 and 1949.
40.
Horace Gillom attempted a return to football in 1961, trying out for a spot on the New York Titans of the American Football League, a circuit formed the previous year.
41.
Horace Gillom was released before playing in a game.
42.
Horace Gillom moved to Los Angeles in the 1964 and worked at the city's recreation department as a security guard.
43.
Horace Gillom was a "trouble chaser" who patrolled the city's parks without a uniform or weapon.
44.
Horace Gillom lived in Los Angeles for the rest of his life.
45.
Horace Gillom died in 1985 of a heart attack suffered while working as a security guard at a hospital.
46.
Horace Gillom had a son and a daughter with his wife, Mamie.
47.
Horace Gillom was named a Browns Legend in 2007, an honor given by the team to the best players in its history.
48.
Horace Gillom was inducted into Stark County, Ohio's high school football hall of fame in 2009.
49.
Horace Gillom still holds the Browns record for longest punt, at 80 yards, and is second in career punting yards behind Don Cockroft.