Leemans, Alphonse “Tuffy”

From GWUEncyc

Alumni

Alphonse Emil Leemans (1912-1979) was a football player at GW and was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame on July 29, 1978. As a young boy, Leemans was constantly getting into fights with other boys who teased him about his given name. This earned him the nickname "Tuffy.” After spending a year at the University of Oregon, Leemans became a starting fullback at George Washington University from 1933-35, where he gained 2,382 yards on 490 carries during his career.

He was named the most valuable player in the 1936 College All-Star game and then joined the NFL's New York Giants. The Giants first learned about Leemans after a vacationing high school boy reported to his father what he had witnessed during a game between George Washington College and Alabama. What he saw was a sensational performance by Leemans. The high school boy was Wellington Mara, son of the Giants owner Tim Mara. Thanks to young Mara, Leemans became the No. 2 draft pick of the Giants in the National Football League's first-ever college draft in 1936.

The 6-0, 195-pound fullback led the league in rushing as a rookie with 830 yards, and was the only rookie named to the All-Pro team, at right halfback. He was also an All-Pro in 1939. Leemans scored New York's first touchdown on a 6-yard run when the Giants beat the Green Bay Packers 23-17 in the 1938 NFL championship game. A versatile player, at one time or another he played fullback or halfback and excelled on defense. At the same time and certainly as a direct result of his play, the Giants were consistently contending for a title berth.

The Giants honored him with a "Tuffy" Leemans day at the Polo Grounds on December 7, 1941, which also turned out to be Pearl Harbor Day. Leemans was waiting to be called into the Navy's V-12 training program in 1942 when he suffered a head injury against the Chicago Bears and lost the hearing in one ear, which kept him out of the service. He retired after the 1943 season.

For many years after his retirement from football, Leemans owned a popular duckpin bowling alley in Maryland. His daughter operated it after his death, until its closing in 2002.

Leemans recalled his days at GW in a 1970 alumni magazine article:

In 1933, Tuffy Leeman started his first game as a sophomore. “I was a bug-eyed kid,” Leemans, a Washington businessman, recalls today, “and to me this was the greatest thing ever, to play with a college varsity team as a sophomore. The game of football in those days was a much different situation. Now I’m not one of those old fogeys, but today is the day of the specialist, and it’s a better football game. But the fellow of yesteryear had to be in much better condition, because he knew full well that he was in there for practically the full 60 minutes. That was both offense and defense.

“On the defense, I played halfback,” Leemans continued. “Under the terminology of today, that would be a free safety. In the old days under Jim Pixlee, we played offense from what we called a ‘short punt’ which is now called a ‘shotgun’ formation. So under this system, I had to play both a halfback and fullback, alternating from one to the other. The forward pass was not developed to the extent that it is today. In those days we did a lot of running, plus some passing, which I did. I also played outside and caught passes. And I did the punting.”

An anonymous writer in that year’s Cherry Tree touted Leemans as “the greatest soph back to wear the Buff and Blue. A ‘natural’ if there ever was one. Headed for better things.” Prophetic. Those better things include most carries per season (207) and career (490) and most yards rushing per season (1054) and career (2382). But the ’33 season is not over in Leemans’ mind. “My sophomore year ended with three of our boys being declared ineligible,” he says. “Lets’ see, there was John Baker (quarterback), and ‘Nig’ McCarver (halfback) and Hardy Pearce (tackle). These were all outstanding players who were declared ineligible because they played too many years. In other words they were there in their fifth season. This final game was against the University of Tennessee, which had a great football team with a great All-American, Beattie Feathers. We were playing practically all sophomores and juniors, and we held this powerful team to only a 13-0 win.”

The yearbook writer lamented: “Beattie Feathers, ace triple threat from the South, took some of the sting of defeat from the air. It was a privilege to watch him kick, pass and run in truly all-American style, but we couldn’t forget the three chaps on the bench, who, because of ineligibility, were deprived of their right to aid in the struggle.” College football was on the rise, on the way to big business it is today—and generated the mania now most often found in the pro fan. Up to 25,000 people, a good crowd for that time, would come to Griffith Stadium to watch GW battle national powers. “We did a lot in preparing the way for the Redskins,” Leemans says.

When speaking of his election to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1978, he commented:

"Well, I’ll never forget it. The man from the Hall of Fame asked me if I was standing or sitting, and he advised me to sit because he had some exciting news for me. When he told me I had been chosen for the Hall of Fame, I almost fell on the floor. If there is such a thing as walking on Cloud Nine, that’s what I’ve been doing since I heard the news. I knew some people were working for me, trying to get me elected, but I really didn’t expect it. It’s a great feeling knowing you’re up there with the best. This is by far the greatest thing I’ve come across."

Document Information

Images: 1
Photographic Credit: Cherry Tree yearbook, 1936
Author or Source: NFL Hall of Fame website [1]; GW Magazine, Special Issue, 1970; Friday magazine, Feb. 3, 1978
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist

For more information about GW history

Contact:

Special Collections Research Center [2]
The Melvin Gelman Library [3]
The George Washington University [4]
2130 H Street, NW Suite 704
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-7549
mailto:archives@gwu.edu
Please send us your questions and comments about the encyclopedia.
This site is maintained by the Special Collections Research Center and the Web Development Group.