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The Veterans

Amos Dodd

Long before the Waterboy, we had Amos Dodd, a simple man from Texas who could throw a watermelon farther than anyone else had ever seen? Does that translate into College Football? Why of course it does, and through a strange turn of events (boy do we say that a lot), he is recruited to play for small Texas State against the powerhouse of Yale, which in 1935 was actually true. Stuart Erwin, who played Amos Dodd, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: Pigskin Parade (1935) Actor: Stuart Erwin Role Portrayed:…
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Bill "Stoker" Thompson

There is something about post World War II film noir that we admit that we can’t get enough of. In “The Set-Up”, we meet a washed up boxer named “Stoker” Thompson who has so far on the downswing of his career that his manager accepts payment for his client to take a dive, without telling his boxer! During the fight, Thompson learns of it, but fights his heart out and manages to win the match, despite learning that the mob is involved.   Interesting how the desire to win takes over! The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: The Set-Up (1949) Actor: Robert…
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Burleigh "Tiger" Sullivan

Harold Lloyd was one of the few actors who was equally successful in silent movies as he was in “talkies”, and it was as a nerdish milkman turned Middleweight contender that he had one of his most successful roles. In the Milky Way, Lloyd is Burleigh Sullivan who through a freak circumstance appears to have knocked out the Middleweight Champion of the World. He didn’t, as the milkman ducked, but it leads him to compete in the sport by way of crooked promoters that fixed fights to lead up to a huge payday against the champ. You already know what…
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Coach James Gore

The balance between academics and sports is explored long before what is going on in the current NCAA. In the 1933 film, College Coach, James Gore is hired to bring winning ways to Calvert University and he does so in any way possible, including fielding non-eligible players. Just imagine if he had today’s boosters! The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: College Coach (1933) Actor: Pat O’ Brien Role Portrayed: Calvert College Football Coach Why You Should Vote For Him: This is one of the first villainous and unscrupulous Coaches in cinema. Why You Should Not Vote For Him: We preferred when…
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Danny Kenny

This may not be our favorite Cagney film, or even our favorite Cagney boxing movie, but as Danny Kenny, we have a boxer who continues well past his prime to help out his family financially. The film is just ok, and we admit we put him here, because, well, it’s James Cagney! The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: City for Conquest (1940) Actor: James Cagney Role Portrayed: Boxer Why You Should Vote For Him: Cagney is a legend. Enough said! Why You Should Not Vote For Him: There are way better (and more successful) boxers to choose from on this ballot.…
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Eddie Quaid/Packy Glennon

The second (and much better) boxing film starring Tony Curtis, sees him as Eddie Quaid, a Middleweight boxing contender. He is the son of an alcoholic, and former contender named Packy Glennon, and out of respect that is the name he takes on. Rather than go into to much detail, he becomes the Middleweight Champion of the World and embarks on a three match series with Al Gorski, leading to some of the most brutal fights ever shown on the screen. Saying this, and despite his frame, there has always been something about Tony Curtis that makes us a little…
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Elmer Kane

Comedian, Joe E. Brown gives us a great morality tale about a cocky young Chicago Cubs star that needs to be taught a lesson in humility off the field so that he could become a team player on it. This is the most known of Brown’s three Baseball flicks, so we thought it best to use this one as the nominee. You can tell us if it is in fact the best one. The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: Elmer, the Great (1933) Actor: Joe E. Brown Role Portrayed: Chicago Cubs star Why You Should Vote For Him: Baseball was magical…
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Frank Machin

We never cared who Richard Harris played, as we loved him in almost everything he did (except for when he sang MacArthur Park). In 1963, he was cast as Frank Machin, a coal miner consumed with anger, which was perfectly transferred to the rugby field where he became a local star. However, this was not a case where channeled rage into sports was therapeutic, as Machin showcased far deeper issues, and Rugby was more of a backdrop to what was really going on inside. Ironically, though this featured Rugby, which is big in the U.K., and not in the United…
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Greta Muller

Sonja Henie was a three time Olympic Gold Medalist in Ladies Figure Skating, and arguably the Norwegian was the most known female athlete in the world. How do you parlay that success? Well in Hollywood of course! Henie would embark on a successful second career, which began in “One in a Million”, where she played…a figure skater that competes at the Olympics. Good thing they already had the footage. The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: One in a Million (1936) Actor: Sonja Henie Role Portrayed: Olympic Figure Skater. Why You Should Vote For Her: This may baffle today’s generation, but this…
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Guy Haines

When you think of Alfred Hitchcock, you think of suspense and not athletics, however in his 1951 film, Strangers on a Train, we have a tennis player involved in a murder plot in what we can only describe as “Hitchcockian”. As good a movie as this was, was the sport of tennis really relevant to this film? The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: Strangers on a Train (1951) Actor: Farley Granger Role Portrayed: Tennis Player Why You Should Vote For Him: We can’t say that we are exactly tennis fans, but we have a very interesting character here. Why You Should…
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Jimmy Kane

There is something off for us in this movie, yet we can’t help but be completely compelled by the James Cagney boxing film, “Winner Take All”. First off, Cagney is intriguing no matter the role, but instead of the sad sack boxer at the end of his rope, we have a legit contender who needs a sabbatical due to excessive womanizing and drinking. During that sabbatical Jimmy Kane (Cagney) meets a woman a former nightclub singer who makes him self-conscious about his looks and gets plastic surgery to enhance his appearance that boxing took from him. Now we have a…
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Joe Anthony

When the caddy in question is Jerry Lewis, what kind of level of success do you think it is for the golfer, Joe Anthony (Dean Martin)? Actually, Lewis’s character, Harvey Miller, was actually a very good golfer, but his fear of crowds prevented him from competing. As a Golf Pro, Anthony becomes his client, and a natural on the course, so much so that he can play professionally, though the bungling nature of the two leads them to form a comedy routine as opposed to a winning golf team. Hey, Dean Martin performs “That’s Amore”, and that is enough for…
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Joe Pendleton/Bruce Farnsworth/Murdoch

Warren Beatty’s 1979 film Heaven Can Wait is far more remembered, but the original, “Here Comes Mr. Jordan” is just as acclaimed. Set in the boxing genre, contender Joe Pendleton is killed in a plane crash, though his angel (Mr. Jordan) learns that he was supposed to be taken fifty years later. Mr. Jordan helps him find another body, which is that of a crooked banker named Bruce Farnsworth and resumes his training with his Manager (who he tells his secret too) and reformed the financial wrongdoings of the original Farnsworth. If you saw the Beatty version, you know that…
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Junior Jackson

Sometimes we forget what a great comedic duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was. From their 1951 film, “That’s My Boy”, Lewis plays Junior Jackson, the son of two distinguished athletes, but remember this is Jerry Lewis, so what kind of athlete do you expect him to be? Bill Baker (Dean Martin) helps Jackson make the Ridgefield College Football Team (Jackson’ father alma mater) and through events that could only be done by Jerry Lewis somehow wins the big game. We bet this was huge in France!The Bullet Points:Movie Appeared:That’s My Boy (1951)Actor:Jerry LewisRole Portrayed:College Football Player for Ridgefield CollegeWhy…
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Lee Sheridan

Ah, American cockiness meets British snobbery. A Yank at Oxford is a simple fish out of water story, but it works, and here it is set on the backdrop of rowing at Oxford; which is as is steeped in tradition as Hockey is in Canada or Sumo Wrestling in Japan. The cocky American here is Lee Sheridan (Robert Taylor) and as you would expect there is a woman involved, (an eventual) successful attempt to master a new sport and respect earned at the end. Hey, there is nothing wrong with formula, especially (like here) when it is done right. Oh,…
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Luis "Mountain" Rivera

Based on Rod Serling’s 1956 teleplay, the version of Requiem of a Heavyweight that we have decided to go with is the Anthony Quinn 1962 film. Quinn, plays Luis “Mountain” Rivera, who like so many of our Veteran’s Candidate boxing films, finds us looking at a boxer at the end of his career. He may be at the end of his career, but what a way to start to the film! We see him at the receiving end of punches from Cassius Clay (playing himself) and learn that his weasel of a manager bet significant money on his client to…
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Maish Rennick

For many, Jackie Gleason could do no wrong, and like so many great comedians, he could tap into a dark place to generate dramatic performances that make you forget how funny he could be. Here, Gleason is Maish Rennick, the degenerate boxing manager of “Mountain” Rivera, who lost a sizable sum of money wagering when his client lost to a young Cassius Clay. That wasn’t the entire part of the story as we would later learn, but his moral compass is clearly skewed, but as a character you can’t help but be compelled by what is on the screen in…
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Midge Kelly

For the amount of boxers that have been in cinema, they almost always had a heart of gold buried beneath their rough exterior. That wouldn’t be found in Kirk Douglas’ Midge Kelly in “Champion”, a faux hero in public, though a man with limited scruples outside of it. Douglas, who looked more like a boxer than virtually any other actor at that point, and is a great character study regardless of the genre. This should be a legitimate candidate for this hall, unless you go on likability and then this man has no shot!   The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: Champion…
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Nick Bonelli

Although the tall and lanky stature of Tony Curtis made us believe that he could look like a College Football player in his youth, the last few years of Tony Curtis while alive showed us anything but a former football player. That’s beside the point really as in 1953, Cutis starred as Nick Bonelli a star college football player who becomes disillusioned when his coach withheld the information that his parents were killed in a car crash on the way to the stadium. Disillusioned, he transfers to Sheridan College and of course learns about life, conformity, and dare we say…
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Ron "Cat" Catlan

We here at Notinhalloffame.com are suckers for all things New Orleans Saints, and all things Charlton Heston following the Planet of the Apes, so how can we not love the box office bomb that was “Number One” where Heston played Ron “Cat” Catlan, a 40 year old Quarterback of the New Orleans Saints who once led them to a Championship, but desperately trying to hold on. It was a very impressive feat considering the Saint never won a title until 2009 and this film was released in 1969 (only three years after New Orleans entered the league), but Moses can…
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Ronald

Played by the legendary Buster Keaton, we meet Ronald, a nerdish academic in love with a woman who shockingly only loves jocks. Ronald enrolls at College and tries his hand at sports with comical results and though he is pathetic at everything he tries, he gets the girl out of pure persistence. This may not be a great sports film, but it does showcase Buster Keaton in some great physical comedy. The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: College (1927) Actor: Buster Keaton Role Portrayed: Wannabe jock Why You Should Vote For Him: When you talk about legends, it doesn’t get much…
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Steve Morgan

How many times do you watch a boxing film and think that there is no way that this guy could play a boxer? At least with the “The Prizefighter and the Lady” you never thought that as the main fight at the end featured future Heavyweight Champion, Max Baer going up against the then champion, Primo Carnera. This film was Baer’s film debut (he would star in twenty films) and he played Steve Morgan, a bouncer turned boxer, once a former manager known as “The Professor” (played by Walter Huston) sees his skills with his fists. Morgan is an overnight…
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The Old Man

Far from your traditional sports tale, we felt compelled to include the Old Man (Spencer Tracy) from the adaptation of the Ernest Hemmingway classic, “The Old Man and the Sea”. The film, which is basically just Tracy for most of it, sees his struggle to capture an enormous marlin, and like most sporting struggles (and we will consider fishing a sport for our purposes) this takes on a far deeper meaning. The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: The Old Man and the Sea (1958) Actor: Spencer Tracy Role Portrayed: Cuban Fisherman Why You Should Vote For Him: The combination of Spencer…
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The President

In what could be considered one of the first black comedy sports films, W.C. Fields stars as The President of the fictional country of Klopstokia, a country that is broke but apparently has a plethora of natural athletes including the President himself. The President puts together a team of athletes and through a turn of events, success will equal financial reward for his country. Incidentally, the President competes and wins the weightlifting event with a 1,000 pound lift. Who knew Klopstokians had it in them? The Bullet Points: Movie Appeared: Million Dollar Legs (1932) Actor: W.C. Fields Role Portrayed: President…
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Tommy "Killer" McCoy

We know that at one point Mickey Rooney was one of the biggest stars (not literally) and a fairly decent actor, but as a champion in Boxing? It may have been a hit at the time but buying Rooney as a boxer is laughable; or really in any role that requires the slight bit of toughness.
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