Joseph Magliolo, Jr. (October 17, 1922 - July 31, 2008) was a former college and professional football player. He was a two-time All-American honorable mention, once as a "blocking back" and once as a guard, who played in Texas' first two bowl games and then played a season for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

of the AAFC.

Early life

Magliolo was born in Galveston in 1922, the son of Italian immigrants. There he played football and tennis at Ball High School.

College football

Magliolo started school at Texas in 1939 and from 1940 to 1942 he came out for spring football practice, but it wasn't until the fall of 1942, when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

created a shortage of players, that he tried out for the varsity. That season, despite being an unheralded high school player whose parents didn't want him to play, Magliolo became Coach Dana X. Bible's choice for starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, or "blocking back", at the beginning of the season. At the time, Texas was utilizing the

single-wing formation In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a ...

in which the quarterback didn't pass or control the ball as much as the quarterback does in modern football, and was often called the "blocking back." The work of taking snaps and throwing the ball was primarily handled by the fullback, who in 1942 was Roy McKay. Later in the season, when the Longhorns began playing against pass-oriented offenses in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

, William Harold "Spot" Collins became the starter because he was seen as the better pass defender and players went both ways at the time. Still, with platoon football, Magliolo saw considerable playing time right through to the 1943 Cotton Bowl. Texas went 9-2 and won the Southwest Conference championship to finish ranked #11 in the country. They played in, and won, the school's first ever bowl game with a 14–7 win over Georgia Tech in the 1943 Cotton Bowl. In 1943, Magliolo was named one of three team captains for the Longhorns, and the starting quarterback. That season, the Longhorns went 7-1-1, posted the school's first ever repeat conference championship, finished ranked #14 and tied

Randolph Field Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Uni ...

in the 1944 Cotton Bowl. That season, he was an all-conference selection as a back and an All-American honorable mention. After leaving school to serve in the Navy for two years, where he was an executive officer on a

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

during World War II, Magliolo returned to Texas in 1946. He was considered the team's best blocking and defensive back, but four games into the season, he broke his arm in the Oklahoma game and missed the end of the season. Despite the short season for him, he made Wirt Gammon's All-American Blockers team that year. In 1947, the Longhorns switched to the

T-formation In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quar ...

which did not need a blocking back, and Magliolo was moved to left guard. Despite the change in position, he was 3rd Team All-Southwest Conference and an honorable mention All-American as the Longhorns went 10–1. They finished ranked #5 and beat Alabama in the 1948 Sugar Bowl. During his time on the team, the Longhorns went 34-6-1. In 1988, he was inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Honor.

Pro football

Magliolo was first drafted by the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ...

in the 17th round of the

1944 NFL Draft The 1944 National Football League Draft was held on April 19, 1944, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Boston Yanks selected quarterback Angelo Bertelli. Player selections Round ...

, but he never signed with them and instead went off to war. He was then drafted by the

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

in the 15th round of the 1948 AAFC Draft and played one season for them that year. He played defensive back, recording one interception in 13 games. Magliolo spent much of the 1948 season on the sideline due to injuries, and, in July 1949, he informed the team that he was retiring from professional football to pursue a business career near

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Gal ...

Later life

Magliolo earned a chemical engineering degree from Texas in 1948 and a master's degree in 1949. In 1950, he went to work for

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed i ...

where he spent 27 years as a chemical engineer. In 1980, he purchased the Bay Area Racquet Club near the Johnson Space Center in

Clear Lake, Texas Clear Lake is a populated place located in Collin County, Texas on the south end of the Lavon Lake Peninsula. By land it is south of Princeton and over water northwest of Lavon, southwest of Copeville, and north of Wylie. Population In 1910 t ...

and became an advocate for local tennis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maglilo, Joe 1922 births 2008 deaths American football offensive linemen American football quarterbacks New York Yankees (AAFC) players Monsanto employees Texas Longhorns football players Players of American football from Galveston, Texas