Einar Magnus "Bill" Irgens (June 26, 1883 – October 28, 1947) 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.
A native of
Stavanger
Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, he played professional football 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) as a
halfback and
quarterback
The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
for the
Minneapolis Marines. He appeared in 11 NFL games, seven as a starter, from 1921 to 1923.
is sometimes cited as the oldest NFL rookie at age 34.
Irgens tops Rocca's mark by four years, having made his NFL debut at age 38.
[
Irgens was also the first Norwegian-born player in the NFL. The second Norwegian-born player, Halvor Hagen, did not debut in the NFL until 1975.
In later years, Irgens worked as a painter in Minneapolis.][World War II Draft Registration Card for Einar Magnus Irgens, born June 26, 1883, in Norway. Available at Ancestry.com.] He died in 1947 in Minneapolis.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irgens, Bill
1883 births
1947 deaths
Sportspeople from Stavanger
Minneapolis Marines players
American football quarterbacks
American football halfbacks