LOOKING BACK
by Chris Willis
(Part One of an ongoing series)
The National Football League didn’t recognize a Most
Valuable Player Award until 1938 when Joe F. Carr, President of the league at
that time, announced that the NFL would officially name an MVP that season.
Giants’ center-linebacker Mel Hein won the inaugural award receiving a watch at
midfield right before the kickoff of the 1938 NFL Championship Game at the Polo
Grounds. In this series of posts I’ll take a look at several retroactive races
for NFL MVP, the players who would have likely won an award if one had been given.
This first one is for the 1936 NFL season. In a decade dominated by rushing, the 1936 NFL Season was no
different in fact, it was typical. The twelve NFL teams, playing twelve league games on the schedule,
totaled 15,370 rushing yards on 4,453 carries (a 3.5 average) with 166
touchdowns. While the passing statistics are downright awful. NFL signal
callers of 1936 threw 1,656 passes and completed just 604, a completion
percentage of 36.5 percent, for 8,960 yards.
The more glaring stat is the comparison of passing
touchdowns to interceptions. There were 67 touchdowns compared to a whopping
216 interceptions. Those statistics result in a league-wide NFL passer rating of 29.2. Yes, the sophisticated passing games of today had a long way
to go. Every team threw at least fifteen interceptions with the Chicago Bears, throwing a league high 35 picks, although it didn’t hamper the Bears in the
win-loss column as they finished the season with a 9-3 record.
Looking at the top five passers in the NFL in 1936 only
Arnie Herber, the seven-year vet of the Green Bay Packers belongs in the
discussion for MVP. Leading the Pack to the Eastern Division title with a
10-1-1 record, he was heads-and-shoulders above all the other quarterbacks in
the NFL in 1936.
In leading the league in completions (77), attempts (173), passing
yards (1,239) and passing touchdowns (11), the future Hall of Famer Herber did have
the benefit of throwing to the great Don Hutson (who was playing in his second
year in the NFL) as nearly half of his completions and yards went to Hutson, as
well as eight of his eleven touchdown passes.
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| Arnie Herber. Colorization by John Turney |
As for Hutson, he did lead the NFL in receiving, but wasn’t
challenged very much for that spot because of the lack of passing success of
the other NFL teams in 1936.
Hutson was tops in receptions (34), receiving yards (536) and
receiving touchdowns with eight. He added another score on a blocked punt to give
him nine total touchdowns, which was tops in the NFL. But this wasn’t one of
Hutson’s more dominant years, as the thirty-four catches would be the third
lowest of his eleven-year career and the 536 receiving yards the second lowest-
behind his rookie year of 420. Although Hutson would have been in the
discussion for league MVP as the game’s best receiving threat, in 1936 it was not
his time.
The running backs around the NFL in 1936 featured a who’s who
of great Hall of Fame ball carriers. Each NFL team had a pretty dominant
runner. The top five rushers from 1936, which featured three future Hall of
Famers, did not include the Bears’ Bronko Nagurski (529 rushing yards on 122
carries, 4.3 avg, 3 TDs) and the Packers’ Clarke Hinkle (476 rushing yards on
10 carries, 4.8 avg, 5 TDs).
Giants rookie running back Tuffy Leemans, who Wellington
Mara drafted as a second-round pick out of George Washington, was a workhorse
in 1936 leading the NFL in rushing with 830 yards on a league-high 206 carries.
But his workload hurts him here as he was the only player in the NFL to have
over 200 carries, plus he only scored two touchdowns all season for a Giants
team that finished with a losing record of 5-6-1. Side note here about Leemans, after rushing for 830 yards as a rookie over his next seven years he never gained
more than 474 yards in a single season.
Cliff Battles had a solid season with 614 yards rushing and
7 total touchdowns as he contributed in the kick return game too for the
Eastern champions Boston Redskins. But it was the Lions backfield that grabbed
all the headlines. Fullback Ace Gutowsky (827 rushing yards on 191 attempts)
and wingback Erine Caddel (580 rushing yards on just 91 carries) gave the Lions
a great one-two punch of power and speed. Caddel averaged an amazing 6.4 yards
per carry, tops in the NFL while Gutowsky finished second in the league in
rushing yards (827) and touchdown runs (6). But the Lions weren’t finished
there, they also had the best all-around player in the NFL in their backfield
too: Dutch Clark. Running Potsy Clark’s single-wing offense from the tailback
position Dutch was at his best in 1936.
Clark called all the plays from the field and in 1936 he
called his number not as often as you think. He rushed for 628 yards, 3rd
best in the NFL, but it was done on just 123 rushing attempts. His average was
just behind Caddel’s at 5.1 yards per carry and his 7 rushing touchdowns was
tops in the league.
Clark was the best back in a crowded backfield. The Lions
rushed for an NFL record of 2,885 yards in twelve games (averaging 240 yards per
game). The record would last for 36 years when the undefeated 1972 Dolphins
rushed for 2,960 yards. They set this record on 591 rushing attempts (averaged
4.9 yards per carry) with Clark getting only 123 of those carries, about twenty
percent of the time did he carry the ball. Compares that with his teammate
Gutowsky (191 carries) getting the ball 32 percent of the time, or the Giants
Leemans who had 206 of the Giants 517 carries, a nearly 40 percent clip.
Dutch not only handled the offense, but he was also the best kicker
in the league too, leading the NFL in scoring with 73 points- behind four field
goals and a league-leading 19 extra points.
The thirty-year-old Clark played the entire 1936 season at
the highest level. He scored a point in every game, including an incredible
stretch where the Lions played three games in eight days TWICE during the
season. Games on October 11th (Philly), Oct. 14th
(Brooklyn) and Oct. 18th (Green Bay) and again later in the year on Nov.
25th (Green Bay), Thanksgiving Day on Nov. 29 (Bears) and Dec. 2
(Bears). He was never better than those three games in late November. He scored
a touchdown in all three games, kicked one field goal and four extra points.
Against the Bears on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26th) he sprinted 51 yards for the deciding touchdown in a 14-7 victory, sending Lions’ fans home
happy on Turkey day.
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| Dutch Clark's long touchdown run on Thanksgiving. Colorization by John Turney |
Clark held up throughout the season by putting together a
remarkable resume, leading the NFL in scoring (73 points), third in the league
in rushing (628 yards), and he was also tops in the league in passing
percentage with a mark of 53.5 percent. Although he only completed 38 of 71
passes, for 467 yards and four touchdowns, he was highly efficient in throwing the
ball. He only had six interceptions, which paled in comparison to the massive
interceptions totals of the other quarterbacks in the league. Clark was also a better defender than Herber, Leemans and Gutowsky (but not better than Nagurski).
The race for the 1936 MVP comes down to Herber and Clark. Herber was the best quarterback in the
league, topping all passing categories and leading the Packers to a 10-1-1
record, as well as leading the highest-scoring offense in the NFL (248 points).
Although the Packers did win the NFL Championship in 1936 that doesn’t get
recognized because the MVP is usually announced before the championship games
or Super Bowl is played, so will keep to that schedule.
In the end, Dutch Clark is the 1936 NFL MVP, edging out Arnie Herber.
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| Dutch Clark. Colorization by John Turney |
Excellent ...
ReplyDeleteWith Clark's 1937 Gruen Award that would give him recognition back to back seasons.
I think Herber would be the obvious MVP if voting was done like it is today (thankfully it appears that the 'lazy' choice isn't being made for this 'series') ...
I do wonder if there was an award at the time, that if someone like Turk Edwards (WA High School football legend at Clarkston HS) wouldn't have been strongly considered?
Here's a vote for 1927 being the next year done in the series. Mostly because of McBride's "MVP", which I can find articles referencing it, but cannot find who exactly named him MVP? Nor who voted or awarded it, also haven't found when it was first 'announced' ...
On another note, the color photos/banner of the five 'candidates' across the top is aesthetically pleasing.