Austin George Higgins (November 29, 1897 – March 3, 1976) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. Higgins was born in 1897 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. He served in the Army during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

from August 1917 to January 1919. From 1921 to 1923, he played professional football, principally at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position, for the

Louisville Brecks Louisville, Kentucky had two professional American football teams in the National Football League: the Louisville Breckenridges (or Brecks for short) from 1921 to 1924 and the Louisville Colonels in 1926. The NFL intended for the Brecks to be ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He appeared in at least seven NFL games, all of those as a starter. Higgins also served as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for Louisville during the 1921 season. He earned a reputation as an ironman player who played entire games. ''The Courier-Journal'' later wrote that Higgins, who weighed as little as 155 pounds during his playing career, "didn't know what a substitute was and he never backed away from any of the bigger giants." He left the sport with a blood clot that remained on his left leg for 10 years. Higgins was married in 1923 to Mary Spellman. After his football career ended, he worked for tobacco companies, including Phillip Morris Tobacco Co., Axton-Fischer Tobacco Co., and finally the Falls City Tobacco Company. He was also one of the top bowlers in Louisville. He died in 1978 at age 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Austin 1897 births 1976 deaths Louisville Brecks players Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky American football centers United States Army personnel of World War I