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Jack "Automatic Jack" Manders (January 13, 1909 – January 29, 1977) was a National Football League running back for the Chicago Bears from 1933 through 1940. He is the older brother of Clarence (Pug) Manders. John Albert "Jack" Manders was born in Milbank, SD on January 13, 1909, the fourth of nine children of Albert & Katherine (Rosin) Manders. Albert was a Dutch immigrant, coming to this country in 1880 at age one. Katherine was ethnic German from Hoffnungstahl, Ukraine, Russia arriving in 1884 at age two. Jack's mother died when he was ten. His father lost the family farm when he was 14 and the family was split up. He worked his way through high school washing dishes at a local cafe for room and board and doing farm work in the summer. His senior year in high school he was approached by Clarence "Doc" Spears, then head coach at the University of Minnesota and invited to come to the school to play football. As there were no athletic scholarships then, he work his way through school with various jobs such as tending boilers in various University buildings at night and acting as "bouncer" at a local ice rink. In summer, he worked for the Milwaukee Railroad laying track and building bridges. At Minnesota he played for three different head coaches, "Doc" Spears, "Fritz" Kreisler and Bernie Bierman. The shape of the football was changed around 1929 to make passing the ball easier and as a consequence it became too difficult to drop kick the ball for extra points and field goals so place kicking came into vogue. Jack was one of the first to adopt this new method of kicking and became quite proficient. In fact, he was so consistent that a Chicago sportswriter nicknamed him "Automatic Jack". Having used up all of his college eligibility in 1932, he left school. Bronko Nagurski, a teammate at Minnesota had gone on to play professional football for George Halas and the Chicago Bears. Bronko touted Jack's skill as a kicker to George and George signed him to a professional contract for $100 a game. The Bears were able to repeat as world champions in 1933, defeating the New York Giants 23-20 with Jack scoring 3 field goals and an extra point. Jack played seven more years, leading the league in scoring in 1934 and 1937. He played in 3 more championship games. In 1934 the Bears lost to the Giants 30-13 with Jack accounting for two field goals and an extra point. In 1937 the Bears were defeated by the Washington Redskins 28-21 with Jack scoring two touchdowns, kicking three extra points, recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass. In 1940 the Bears beat the Washington Redskins by the lopsided score of 73-0. Jack kicked the first extra point. He retired at the beginning of the 1941 season. With the Bears he had played Fullback, Halfback, Defensive Back and Linebacker. ==External links== * (South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame ) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jack Manders」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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