Sachs, Lenny

Leonard David Sachs

Although not a large man by any standards, Sachs (5'8") played professional football in the 1920s as an NFL end. During his NFL career, Sachs was also the basketball coach at Loyola (Ill.). He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. August 7, 1897 - d. October 27, 1942

Career Highlights:
Sachs played for four teams in his seven-year NFL career. In 1920, he joined the Chicago Cardinals in the American Professional Football League, the predecessor of the NFL. In 1921, Sachs was joined on the team by brothers Ralph Horween and Arnold Horween. He remained with the Cardinals until 1923 when he moved to the Milwaukee Badgers. In 1924, Sachs began the season with the Badgers and then switched to the Hammond Pros midseason.

Sachs began the 1925 season with the Pros but then returned to the Chicago Cardinals. That year, they finished the season with a sterling 9-1-1 record, a half-game ahead of the Pottsville Maroons. On December 6, the two teams met on the field to decide the champion, with the Maroons defeating Sachs and the Cardinals, 21-7.

After that game, Pottsville staged a post-season exhibition game against the Notre Dame All-Stars featuring the famed Four Horsemen. Pottsville won the game, 9-7, and their supporters made the claim that they were the best team in the world -- after all, they had defeated the best professional and college teams on consecutive weekends. The game against the Irish all-stars, however, had been played in Philadelphia and the Frankford Yellow Jackets protested that the game was in violation of their territorial rights; the Maroons and Jackets had been bitter rivals before either team had entered the NFL.

The league stripped Pottsville of the title and ordered the Cardinals to play two additional games to "fix up" the official standings. They defeated the disbanded Milwaukee Badgers and Hammond Pros to finish the season with a record of 11-2-1, ahead of Pottsville's 10-2-0 standings. In 1926, Sachs played four games for the Louisville Colonels and then retired; he had played in 51 career NFL games

Origin:
Chicago, Illinois

Career Dates:
After attending the American College of Physical Education, Sachs played in the NFL as an offensive end for the Chicago Cardinals of the NFLfrom 1920-1922 and again in 1925, with the Milwaukee Badgers from 1923-1924, the Hammond Pros from 1924-1925, and with the Louisville Colonels in 1926.

Physical description:
5'8", 176 pounds

Career Statistics:
In the NFL:
Games: 51
Receiving touchdowns: 2

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