Marshall Kenneth "Iggie" Shurnas (April 1, 1922 – August 19, 2006) was an

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

end who played one season in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC) for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in 1947. Shurnas began his football career at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

, playing on teams that won the

Big Six Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associat ...

in 1941 and 1942. After a stint in the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he joined the Browns. Cleveland won the AAFC championship in 1947, but Shurnas left after the season for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

. He did not play in any games for Buffalo, however.

High school and college

Shurnas attended Central High School in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, where he played as an end on the school's football team for three years. He enrolled at the

and played for the

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Missouri's ...

team in 1941 and 1942. Missouri went undefeated in

play in 1941 and advanced to the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed on ...

, but lost the game to Fordham 2–0. The following year, Shurnas was named to an All-Big Six second-team by the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

'' as Missouri finished with an 8–3–1 win-loss-tie record and won the conference again under head coach

Don Faurot Donald Burrows Faurot (June 23, 1902 – October 19, 1995) was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator best known for his eight-decade association with the University of Missouri. He served as ...

. Shurnas next enlisted in the U.S. Army during

and did not play football until his discharge in 1946, when he returned to Missouri. Shurnas decided to delay a professional career to get back in shape, he said at the time. "Though I tried to keep in good condition in the service, I was far from my best last year," he said in 1947. Shurnas finished his college degree that July.

Professional football career

Shurnas had been drafted by the

Boston Yanks The Boston Yanks were a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Any games that conflicted with the Boston Red Sox baseball schedule in the ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

in 1944 while he was still in the Army. When he was discharged, he signed with the

of the

. The Browns finished with a 12–1–1 record in 1947 and won the AAFC championship. Shurnas was a third-string right end, playing mainly on defense behind starter

Dante Lavelli Dante Bert Joseph "Gluefingers" Lavelli (February 23, 1923 – January 20, 2009) was an American professional football player who was an end for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League ( ...

and John Yonakor. He joined the

the following year, but did not play in a game for the team.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shurnas, Marshall 1922 births 2006 deaths American football ends Cleveland Browns (AAFC) players Missouri Tigers football players Players of American football from St. Louis United States Army personnel of World War II