Glenn Emery "Press" Presnell (July 28, 1905 – September 13, 2004) 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, coach, and college athletics administrator. He set the NFL single-season scoring record in 1933 and led the league in total offense. He was the last surviving member of the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

inaugural 1934 team and helped lead the team to its first NFL championship in 1935. He also set an NFL record with a 54-yard field goal in 1934, a record which was not broken for 19 years. Presnell served as the head football coach at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

in 1942 and at Eastern Kentucky State College—now known as Eastern Kentucky University–from 1954 to 1963, compiling a career

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coaching record of 45–56–3. He was also the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at Eastern Kentucky from 1963 to 1971.

Early life

Born in Gilead, Nebraska, Presnell attended DeWitt High School and the

. He played

as a halfback for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers football The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. Nebraska has played its home games at Memorial Stadium (Linc ...

team from 1925 to 1927. In 1925, Presnell led Nebraska to a 14–0 victory over an Illini team that included the "Galloping Ghost",

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American professional American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback who played for the Chicag ...

. As one writer put it, "all the galloping was done by Presnell this day." Presnell was selected as a first-team player on the 1927 College Football All-America Team.

Professional football

After leaving Nebraska, Presnell played football for the Ironton Tanks in

Ironton, Ohio Ironton is a city in Lawrence County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 10,571 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in southern Ohio, southernmost Ohio along the Ohio River, it is northwest of Huntingt ...

. He was a player-coach for the team and also taught science at Ironton High School. Presnell was a halfback in Ironton's single wing offense and also played on defense at what would later be considered the safety position. Although not officially part of 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 ...

, the Tanks played against teams in the league. In 1930, Presnell led Ironton to victories over both the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. Against the Giants, the Tanks trailed 12–6 with three seconds left. Presnell threw a touchdown pass to Gene Alford and then kicked the extra point to give Ironton a 13–12 victory over a Giants team that finished in second place in the NFL. He also scored two touchdowns against the Bears, including an 88-yard run. After the 1930 season, the Tanks folded. In 1931, Presnell joined the Portsmouth Spartans in the NFL. He had his best season in 1933, when he led the NFL in total offense with 1,296 yards. He also broke the single-season NFL scoring record with 64 points. Ken Strong tied with Presnell with the same point total in 1933. During the 1933 NFL season, Presnell completed 50 of 125 passes for 774 passing yards and added 522 rushing yards on 118 carries for an average of 4.4 yards per carry. He also kicked five field goals and 13 extra points. He led the NFL with six rushing touchdowns and 13 successful extra point conversions. He also finished second in the league (behind Harry Newman) in passing touchdowns, passes completed, pass attempts, and passing yards. Following the 1933 season, Presnell was selected as a first-team All-NFL player by the NFL, the United Press, and Collyers Eye Magazine. In 1934, the owner of the Portsmouth Spartans sold the team. The team was moved from

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky and just east of the mouth of th ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, and became the

. When Presnell visited Detroit to sign his first contract with the Lions in 1934, team owner George A. Richards allowed Presnell to pick the team's colors. Presnell later recalled: "Mr. Richards, the owner, the day I was up there and signed my contract, he said: 'There's a table out there in the next office covered with uniforms. Why don't you pick out the colors you like?' I went out. My wife was with me. We saw this Honolulu blue and silver and we fell in love with it." Presnell remained with the Lions from 1934 to 1936. He combined with Dutch Clark, Ace Gutowsky, and Ernie Caddel to lead the Lions to a second-place finish in 1934. And in 1935, the same group led the Lions to their first NFL championship, culminating with a 26–7 victory over the

in the

1935 NFL Championship Game The 1935 NFL Championship game was the third National Football League (NFL) title game, held on December 15 at University of Detroit Stadium (Titan Stadium) in Detroit, Michigan. The 1935 champion of the Western Division was the Detroit Lions ( ...

. Presnell also set an NFL record with a 54-yard field goal in 1934, a mark that was not broken until 1953.

Coaching and later years

Presnell began his coaching career while still paying for the Lions in 1936, when he was hired as head football coach at Lawrence Institute of Technology—now known as

Lawrence Technological University Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech, LTU) is a private university in Southfield, Michigan. It was founded in 1932 in Highland Park, Michigan, as the Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) by Russell E. Lawrence. The university moved ...

—in

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Highland Park is located roughly north of Downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 United ...

. He retired as a player after the 1936 season at age 31. Presnell worked as an assistant football coach at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in 1937 and then as the backfield coach at Nebraska from 1938 to 1941. In February 1942, he became the head football coach and athletic director at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers compiled a record of 3–7 in Presnell's one season as head coach. In December 1942, Presnell enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. In May 1943, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and assigned to the Navy's physical education training program. In 1944 Presnell served as backs coach at the North Carolina Pre-Flight School. He spent three years in the Navy. In 1954, Presnell returned to coaching as the head football coach for Eastern Kentucky University. He held that position from 1954 to 1963. He was then

at Eastern Kentucky until his retirement in 1971. Presnell died in September 2004 in

at the age of 99. He had been the last surviving member of the Detroit Lions' inaugural 1934 team.

Head coaching record

Awards

* Member of Nebraska Hall of Fame (1973) *

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional American football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by w ...

Hall of Very Good Class of 2007 * Inducted into Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame (2020)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Presnell, Glenn 1905 births 2004 deaths American football halfbacks Detroit Lions players Eastern Kentucky Colonels athletic directors Eastern Kentucky Colonels football coaches Kansas Jayhawks football coaches Lawrence Tech Blue Devils football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic directors North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters football coaches Portsmouth Spartans players Ironton Tanks players United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Thayer County, Nebraska Coaches of American football from Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska