James Marcellus Kendrick (August 22, 1893 – November 17, 1941) was an American professional

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player during the early years of the

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(NFL) with the

Toledo Maroons The Toledo Maroons were a professional American football team based in Toledo, Ohio in the National Football League in 1922 and 1923. Prior to joining the NFL, the Maroons played in the unofficial "Ohio League" from 1902 until 1921. History O ...

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Lea ...

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 ...

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 ...

Hammond Pros The Hammond Pros were an American football team from Hammond, Indiana that played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team. History The Pros were established by local businessman Paul Parduhn and Dr. Alva Young. ...

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

Rochester Jeffersons The Rochester Jeffersons were an American football team based in Rochester, New York from 1898 to 1925. The team was a founding member of the National Football League (NFL), in which they played from 1920 to 1925. History Formed as an amateur ...

Rock Island Independents The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907 to 1926. The Independents were a founding National Football League franchise. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated ...

, Buffalo Rangers and

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 ...

. Kendrick was a part of the Bulldogs' 1922 NFL championship team and the Giants' 1927 NFL Championship team.

Early life

Jim, born in Hillside, Texas, on August 22, 1893, was the youngest of nine children to J. M. and Lura Kendrick. In 1904 his family relocated to

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

where Jim attended Douglas Select School. The school did not have a football team at the time, however Jim did excel on the school's

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team. In 1911, he was elected 'president of his senior class.

College career

Jim did not play organized football until he entered

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. There he earned All-Conference honors as an

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in 1915. During the 1915 season, Kendrick and the Aggies defeated their rival

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

13–0. Jim also played baseball and

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for the Aggies.

Military service

In 1916, Jim was a

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in the

Texas National Guard The Texas Military Forces (TXMF) are the principal instrument through which the Texas Military Department (TMD) executes security policy for Texas, which has the second-largest population and border in the United States. The Texas Military Forc ...

. He was part of the Second Texas Infantry Regiment. That year, he was part of a force called up to track down the

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bandit (or revolutionary)

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. Jim served in the US forces under the legendary General Jack Pershing. Jim joined the

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in 1917 and was in

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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 ...

. During this era, many military units created football teams. Jim's team, the Texas 2nd Infantry, won the U.S. National Guard Championship in 1917. The team won eight games and was only scored on once. Kendrick also played for the 36th Division in the 1919

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

championship game in

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Professional career

When the war ended, Jim became an assistant football coach at Baylor. In 1922, Jim played professional football and signed with Canton Bulldogs of the National Football League. Jim played for the Bulldogs however he would occasionally sneak into the line-up for the Toledo Maroons for a few games. That year the Bulldogs won the 1922 NFL Championship. In 1923, Jim accepted an assistant coaching position at

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micr ...

. He also coached the school's baseball and basketball teams. On Sundays, he played for the Louisville Brecks. The team was 0–3 in NFL competition. In 1924 Jim played for the Chicago Bears and still kept his coaching position at Centre and during the off-season, Jim managed and played for the

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affiliate in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...

. In 1925, Jim began playing for the Hammond Pros. However, the Buffalo Bisons wrestled him away from his contract to play football for them in 1925. He also played for the Rochester Jeffersons and Rock Island Independents in 1925 In 1926 Jim was chosen to form a team for the Buffalo Bisons, composed only of players from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. The team was renamed the Rangers, after Texas' legendary peacekeeping force. The team ended the season with a final record of 4–4–2. However, the Bisons only won two games overall in the three other seasons without Hughitt (1925, 1927, 1929), each year with a different head coach. Kendrick played in 8 games for the New York Giants in 1927. The Giants won the 1927 NFL Championship, Jim's second title.

After football

In 1928, Jim was named the head football coach at St. Mary's University in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. He coached the Rattlers for just one season. In 1933 Jim was coaching the Blanco Tree Army Reserve football team for the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

. That year a traffic accident occurred as the team was en route to a playoff game. Two players were killed and others wounded. Jim suffered severe injuries to his right arm, but selflessly insisted that doctors attend to his men first. As a result, the arm became infected and had to be amputated two inches above the elbow. For this act of heroism, Jim Kendrick was awarded the Soldier's Medal, awarded to army personnel for heroic deeds performed during peacetime, by the

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. Kendrick later became a college game official, presiding over several major games during the mid-to-late 1930s. He also was active in the

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and remained working there until his death.

Death

At age 48, Jim died in his hometown of Waco, Texas on November 17, 1941, as the result of a stroke. He was survived by his wife Lucile and four sons (James M. Kendrick Jr., Charles E. Kendrick, Jack I. Kendrick and Gardner S. Kendrick).

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kendrick, Jim 1893 births 1941 deaths American football ends American men's basketball players Player-coaches Buffalo Bisons (NFL) coaches Buffalo Bisons (NFL) players Buffalo Rangers players Canton Bulldogs players Chicago Bears players Hammond Pros players Louisville Brecks and Colonels (NFL) coaches Louisville Brecks players New York Giants players Rochester Jeffersons players Rock Island Independents players Toledo Maroons players Texas A&M Aggies baseball players Texas A&M Aggies football players Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players United States Army personnel of World War I Players of American football from Waco, Texas 20th-century American sportsmen