Harold Powers "Brick" Muller (June 12, 1901 – May 17, 1962) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for the Los Angeles Buccaneers during their only season 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) in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

. He was also a

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competed mainly in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. Muller competed for the United States in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

held in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium, in the high jump, where he won the silver medal. He got nicknamed "the Brick" because of his flaming red hair.

Football

Muller attended

San Diego High School San Diego High School (SDHS) is an urban public high school located on the southern edge of Balboa Park, San Diego, California, Balboa Park in San Diego, California, United States. It is the oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School Dist ...

. When

Nibs Price Clarence Merle "Nibs" Price (April 26, 1889 – January 13, 1968) was an American basketball and American football, football coach. After coaching at San Diego High School, he served as the head football coach at the University of California, Ber ...

was hired by Cal coach Andy Smith as one of his

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

assistants, he encouraged his San Diego High School players to accompany him to Berkeley. Muller and six other graduates from San Diego High School later played on Cal's undefeated, untied 1920 "Wonder Team". In the

1921 Rose Bowl The 1921 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1921, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California. It was the seventh Rose Bowl Game. The defeated the Ohio S ...

, he completed a touchdown pass to Brodie Stephens that went at least 53 yards in the air. He was later voted the Most Valuable Player of the game. Muller became a star

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

at Cal and was the first player in the western United States to receive

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors in 1921 and 1922.

Track and field

Muller was also a member of the California track and field team. The Bears won the ICAAAA championships in 1921, 1922, and 1923, and also won the second NCAA championships. Muller placed second in the

Broad jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, third in the High Jump, and fourth in the

Discus Throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

Los Angeles Buccaneers

After graduating from Cal, Muller wanted to become an

orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

. He was accepted into the University of California's Medical School, but was in need of money. To help supplement his income while in medical school, Andy Smith hired Muller to coach the ends on the Cal varsity. While in school Muller coached from 1923 to 1925, until Smith died from pneumonia in 1926. After he became a physician, Brick played in the first

East-West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

. Prior to the game, he caught a pass thrown from atop the Telephone Building—a drop of 320 feet (97.5 m). During the game, he caught a 27-yard pass for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. Ed R. Hughes of the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

wrote in his column: "Remember Muller has been out of college for three years, but right now he is by far the greatest end in the West, and probably one of the best that ever played!!" This led to Muller being signed by the Los Angeles Buccaneers. He soon became the player and head coach of the team. He led the Buccaneers to a 6-3-1 record in 1926. The team later folded in 1927.

After football

After playing with the Buccaneers in 1926, Muller became an

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Muller served with the Army Medical School with the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

, and in 1956 he served as the Head Team Physician for the United States Olympic Team. However, the honors kept coming. In the late 1940s, ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'' magazine senior editor James N. Young, who had compiled All-America data for almost half a century, chose Muller on his All-Time All-America eleven. In 1953, Muller was also inducted by the

San Diego Hall of Champions The San Diego Hall of Champions was an American multi-sport museum in San Diego, California, until its closure in June 2017. It housed the Breitbard Hall of Fame, San Diego's sports hall of fame, which is now located at Petco Park. Breitbard Hal ...

into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface. and the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

in 1951.

Brick Muller Award

The Brick Muller Award, established in 1949, is named in honor of Muller. It is presented to the most valuable lineman on the Cal team. Players who won the award three times include Ralph DeLoach, E (defense; 1977–79), Harvey Salem, T (offense; 1980–82), Majett Whiteside, NG (defense; 1985–87); Andre Carter, DE (defense; 1998–2000), and Mitchell Schwartz, left tackle (offense; 2009–11).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Harold 1901 births 1962 deaths American football ends American male high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics California Golden Bears football players California Golden Bears men's track and field athletes Los Angeles Buccaneers coaches Los Angeles Buccaneers players Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers People from Dunsmuir, California Players of American football from San Diego Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from San Diego Military personnel from California San Diego High School alumni Players of American football from Siskiyou County, California 20th-century American sportsmen