Melvin Wallace Bleeker (August 20, 1920April 24, 1996) was a professional

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 who played halfback for four seasons 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 ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Early life

Bleeker was born and raised in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and was Jewish. He attended

John C. Fremont High School John C. Fremont High School is a Title 1 co-educational public high school located in South Los Angeles, California, United States. Fremont serves several Los Angeles neighborhoods and the unincorporated community of Florence-Graham; some sec ...

. In 1938, playing football for Fremont, he was named All-Southern California High School Football First-team, and All-Southern California High School Track and Field Honor Roll.

College

He then attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. For USC, he competed for the Trojans in both football from 1940 to 1942, as

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 ...

, halfback, and fullback, and for the track team 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 ...

, for whom he won the Conference championship in 1941 and took second place in the

1942 NCAA Track and Field Championships The 1942 NCAA Track and Field Championships were contested as part of the 21st annual track meet to determine the team and individual national champions of men's collegiate track and field in the United States. This year's events were held at Me ...

(23-11½). He also served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Football career

In 1943 Bleeker played for the

Los Angeles Bulldogs The Los Angeles Bulldogs were a professional American football team that competed from 1936 to 1948 (the last year as the Long Beach Bulldogs). Formed with the intention of joining the National Football League in 1937 (and turned down in favor o ...

in the

Pacific Coast Professional Football League The Pacific Coast Professional Football League (PCPFL), also known as the Pacific Coast Football League (PCFL) and Pacific Coast League (PCL) was a professional American football minor league based in California. It operated from 1940 through 19 ...

(PCFL). He broke into the

and was the NFL's top receiver in his rookie year of 1944, as Bleeker played 9 games for the

, starting three of them. That season, he was second in the NFL in long reception (75), third in touchdowns (8; still the team's all-time rookie record) and yards/rushing attempt (5.3), fourth in yards from scrimmage (614), and sixth in points scored (48). That season he led the Eagles in touchdowns and scoring, despite having been primarily a blocking back in college. He played two more seasons for the Eagles. In 1947 the Eagles traded Bleeker to the

for Art Mergenthal. In 2014 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jews, American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distingui ...

.MEL BLEEKER; Football - 2014
Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleeker, Mel 1920 births 1996 deaths USC Trojans men's track and field athletes USC Trojans football players Players of American football from Los Angeles American football halfbacks Philadelphia Eagles players Los Angeles Rams players Jewish American players of American football United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American Jews Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Jews from California John C. Fremont High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen Pacific Coast Professional Football League players American male long jumpers