Education
Brown University; Lehigh University.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Butch Spagna
Edit Profile
Career
He played in the early National Football League (called the American Professional Football Association until 1922) for the Buffalo All-Americans, Cleveland Tigers and the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Aside from playing in the NFL, Butch also played for several independent teams. In 1919, he began his professional football career with the Phoenix Athletic Club, who later became the Union Club of Phoenixville in 1920.
He would play a non-league game with Phoenixville on Saturdays, then hopped the train for Buffalo and the next day’s game.
This arrangement helped the Spagna, and several other Buffalo All-Americans players, earn extra money in between league games. Spagna also claimed that during his college days at Lehigh, he would play for Lehigh on Saturday afternoon, then board a train for Philadelphia.
There he would play in a Sunday professional game, assuming the cover-identity of "Joby Riba, Heap Big Indian," which did not require him to speak English. Prior to playing pro football, Spagna played at the college level while attending Brown and Lehigh University.
-
Born
-
Died
December 11, 1948 (aged 51)