1. Ralph Horween played fullback and halfback and was a punter and drop-kicker for the unbeaten Harvard Crimson football teams of 1919 and 1920, which won the 1920 Rose Bowl.
21 Facts About Ralph Horween
1. 2.
Ralph Horween's brother, Arnold Horween, was an All-American football player for Harvard, and played in the NFL for the Cardinals.
3.
Ralph Horween was a successful businessman, as he raised cattle and helped run the family leather tannery business, Horween Leather Company.
4.
Ralph Horween was the first NFL player to live to the age of 100.
5.
Ralph Horween's family changed its name during his youth to Horween from its original name, which was either Horwitz or Horowitz.
6.
Ralph Horween was the brother of Arnold Horween, who was two years younger.
7.
The Ralph Horween brothers were the last Jewish brothers to play in the NFL until offensive tackles Geoff Schwartz and Mitchell Schwartz in the 2000s.
8.
Ralph Horween eloped and married Genevieve Brown was born on March 4,1901 and in October 1924; they were married for 64 years until her death on November 25,1987.
9.
Ralph Horween had two sons, Ralph Stow and Frederick Stow.
10.
Ralph Horween played fullback and halfback in the backfield, the two running back positions, and was known as a good punter and drop-kicker, at Harvard University for the Harvard Crimson.
11.
Ralph Horween sustained a chipped collarbone and dislocated shoulder in the victory.
12.
Ralph Horween played 22 career games in the National Football League.
13.
Ralph Horween played for the renamed Chicago Cardinals from 1921 to 1923.
14.
In 1923, his brother became head coach of the Cardinals and Ralph Horween joined him as an assistant coach, as both continued to play as well.
15.
Ralph Horween was paid $275 for a late season game, and used it to buy an engagement ring and elope.
16.
Ralph Horween was a successful businessman, as he raised cattle and helped run a family business that supplied the leather for the footballs used in the NFL.
17.
Ralph Horween served as chief of the Chicago office of the federal Petroleum Administrative Board that administered crude oil permits, and was a special assistant federal attorney who handled prosecutions of oil code violations.
18.
Ralph Horween was the company's chief manufacturing executive, and was working at the company in 1950.
19.
Ralph Horween endowed the Horween Professorship at the University of Virginia, a research chair in the field of small manufacturing enterprises, in honor of his father and in memory of his wife, Genevieve Brown Horween.
20.
In 1996, Ralph Horween turned 100, becoming the first NFL player to turn 100.
21.
Ralph Horween died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 26,1997.