Reuben J. Ursella (January 11, 1890 – February 1980) was a professional football

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

who played during the early years of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. During his NFL career Rube played for the

Minneapolis Marines The Minneapolis Marines were an early professional football team that existed from 1905 until 1924. The team was later resurrected from 1929 to 1930 under the Minneapolis Red Jackets name. The Marines were owned locally by Minneapolitans John Dunn ...

Akron Indians The Akron Pros were a professional football team that played in Akron, Ohio from 1908 to 1926. The team originated in 1908 as a semi-pro team named the Akron Indians, but later became Akron Pros in 1920 as the team set out to become a charter mem ...

, Hammond Pros, Minneapolis Red Jackets and the Rock Island Independents. In January 1926, he also played exhibition games with

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Nativ ...

and his independent team, the Tampa Cardinals. Ursella played college football for the University of Minnesota.

Biography

Rube began his professional football career in 1907 with the Minneapolis Marines. Rube Ursella was the true superstar of the team and had a long and successful pro football career with the Marines. He was both an offensive and defensive standout, as well as a skilled

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

and punter. Pro football shut down completely in 1918, due to the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. In 1919

Walter Flanigan Walter Harrison Flanigan (May 7, 1890 – June 18, 1962) was an American football player and owner of the Rock Island Independents. He was also one of the co-founders of the National Football League (NFL). Player turned owner Flanigan joined the I ...

, the manager of the Rock Island Independents, was able to lure Ursella away from the Marines. With Rube came several other players as well as their offense which became known as "the

Minnesota Shift The Minnesota shift is an American football offensive maneuver that was a forerunner of other shifts and pre-snap formation changes in the game. It consists of a sudden switch into a new offensive formation immediately before the ball is snapped w ...

". The team lost only one game that season, to the Hammond Pros. In 1921 Rube returned to the Marines, however the team was unable to play up to its previous level. He returned for two more seasons with the Independents in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

. In January 1926, Rube joined the Tampa Cardinals a team put together by

for the purpose of playing exhibition games in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The team lost a New Year's Day game to

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees ...

and the Chicago Bears and afterward played a series of games against the

Millville Big Blue Millville Football & Athletic Club also known as the Millville Big Blue was a professional football team based in Millville, New Jersey from 1921 until around 1928. The team won the mythical "Pro Football Championship of New Jersey" in 1923 and aga ...

, playing under the banner of the

Haven-Villa of Winter Haven The Haven-Villa of Winter Haven was a professional football team based in Winter Haven, Florida in 1926. While the team originated as a successful local team. However, the team was taken over by members of the Tampa Cardinals, featuring Jim Thorp ...

. During the 1926 season, Rube played for the Akron Indians and Hammond Pros before retiring at the end of the season. He returned in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

to play for the Minneapolis Red Jackets before retiring, for good, after that season.

References

Rock Island Independents

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ursella, Rube 1890 births 1980 deaths Akron Indians coaches Akron Indians players Hammond Pros players Minneapolis Marines coaches Minneapolis Marines players Minneapolis Red Jackets players Rock Island Independents coaches Rock Island Independents players Sports coaches from Minneapolis Players of American football from Minneapolis