Born this day in 1909, Jack Manders played eight seasons in the National Football League. He led the league in scoring two of those seasons.
From his profile at the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame:
“Born near Milbank in 1909. Milbank HS. University of Minnesota. A halfback for the Chicago Bears for eight years, starting in 1933. Three times he was named to an all-pro team. In 1937 NFL title game, a 28-21 loss to the Washington Redskins, he scored touchdowns by rushing and receiving and also recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass – a feat that wasn’t duplicated until the New York Jets’ Keyshawn Johnson did it on Jan. 10, 1999. Manders played in three other NFL title games (1933, he kicked three field goals in 23-21 win over New York Giants; 1934, had two field goals in 30-13 loss to Giants; 1940, saw limited action in 73-0 win over Washington). One of the top kickers of his era, he was known as ‘Automatic Jack.’ Held NFL record with 78 straight extra-point conversions. Led the NFL in field goals four times (1933-34 and 36-37, second only to Lou Groza’s five). His 10 field goals in ’34 were most by an NFL kicker until Groza and Bob Waterfield got 13 in 1950. Led NFL in PATs three times (1933-35). Led NFL in scoring twice (1934, ’37). In his career, the 6-foot, 203-pounder scored 367 points, made 40 field goals, kicked 133 extra points, scored 19 touchdowns and rushed for 1,586 yards. His best season was 1937,when he gained 319 yards on 73 carries and caught seven passes for 163 yards. At Minnesota, led the Gophers in rushing in 1930 and ’31. Was all-Big Ten in ’31, when he led the league in scoring. Was one of seven football-playing brothers. Brother Pug is also in the Hall of Fame.”
From Beckett.com on the 1940 Wheaties M4 set:
“This set is referred to as the “Champs in the USA” The cards measure about 6″ 8 1’4″ and are numbered. The drawing portion (inside the dotted lines) measures approximately 6″ X 6″. There is a Baseball player on each card and they are joined by football players, football coaches, race car drivers, airline pilots, a circus clown, ice skater, hockey star and golfers. Each athlete appears in what looks like a stamp with a serrated edge. The stamps appear one above the other with a brief block of copy describing his or her achievements. There appears to have been three printings, resulting in some variation panels. The full panels tell the cereal buyer to look for either 27, 39, or 63 champ stamps. The first nine panels apparently were printed more than once, since all the unknown variations occur with those numbers.”
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