Dick Plasman
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| Position: | End/Tackle | ||||||||||
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| Born: | April 6, 1914 Miami, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died: | June 20, 1981 (aged 67) Naples, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 218 lb (99 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Miami (FL) | ||||||||||
| College: | Vanderbilt | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1937 / round: 3 / pick: 28 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Herbert Gustave "Dick" Plasman (April 6, 1914 – June 20, 1981) was an American professional football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals. He is notably the last player in the National Football League (NFL) to play a game without a helmet.[1]
Plasman was selected by the Bears in the third round of the 1937 NFL draft.[2] On November 6, 1938, he crashed into Wrigley Field's brick wall during a home game against the Green Bay Packers, suffering a severe scalp laceration, three fractured ribs, a broken wrist, and a fractured arm.[3] There were concerns about him ever playing again due to the wrist and arm injuries. However, he recovered and continued to not wear a helmet—as he did in the 1940 NFL Championship game on December 8, 1940, and Chicago's 1941 NFL Championship game victory on December 21, 1941, two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.[3] Plasman entered the Air Force in July 1942 and thus missed the 1942 and 1943 seasons, but returned for the 1944 season—when he was forced to wear a helmet due to the new NFL helmet rule.[3]
"Ferocious on his blocks, a great pass rusher and a receiver, too. The guy was terrific, a force out there. He was worthy of the Hall of Fame".[4]
References
[edit]- ^ NEA (October 31, 1974). "Last man to play without helmet has hole in his head". Southeast Missourian. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
- ^ "1937 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ a b c "The NFL's Last Helmetless Player Didn't Even Like Hats". May 8, 2023.
- ^ "THE BRONK AND THE GAZELLE". Sports Illustrated.
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- 1914 births
- 1981 deaths
- Miami Senior High School alumni
- Players of American football from Miami
- Basketball players from Miami
- American football running backs
- Vanderbilt Commodores football players
- Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players
- Chicago Bears players
- Chicago Cardinals players
- Vanderbilt University alumni
- American men's basketball players
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- American football running back, 1910s birth stubs