Frank Filchock Frank Joseph Filchock ( October 8 , 1916 – June 20 , 1994 ) was an American and Canadian football tailback / quarterback and coach . As a consequence of a famous scandal regarding the 1946 NFL Championship game , he was suspended by the National Football League from 1947 to 1950 for associating with gamblers . Early career . Born in 1916 in the small Pennsylvania mining town of Crucible , Filchock was a star player at Redstone Township High School and later at Indiana University . After graduating from university , he became the second pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates ( now the Pittsburgh Steelers ) in the second round of the 1938 NFL draft . The Pirates ' first first - round draft choice that year was Byron ( Whizzer ) White of Colorado , who later became a U . S . Supreme Court judge . Filchock appeared in six games for the Pirates in 1938 , and then was sold to the Washington Redskins . At Washington he appeared in six more games in the 1938 season , as understudy to Sammy Baugh . He remained with the Redskins through the 1941 season , part of the time alternating quarters with Baugh . During this period of alternation , the two were known as " Slingin ' Sam " and " Flingin ' Frank " . On October 15 , 1939 Filchock threw the first 99 - yard touchdown pass in NFL history , to Andy Farkas , in a game against his old team , the Pirates . This set a record for longest play from scrimmage , a record that can only be tied , not broken . In 1939 and 1944 he led the league in touchdown passes . In the latter year he also won the league passing championship , just edging out teammate Baugh . In 1942 and 1943 Filchock was out of professional football and on active duty with the United States Navy . While in the service he played for Georgia Pre - Flight , where he was named to the U . P . All - Service team at tailback . In 1944 he returned to Washington , D . C . , where the Redskins had just switched to the T - formation . After the 1945 season coach Steve Owen of the New York Giants asked owner Tim Mara to get Filchock to serve as passer in Owen ' s A - Formation offense . Mara made the trade with the Redskins , but actually signing Filchock was more difficult . Not only did Mara end up exceeding his traditional salary ceiling , but he also agreed to the first multi - year contract in Giants ' history . Filchock got a reported $ 35 , 000 for three seasons . Even such Giant greats as Benny Friedman , Mel Hein and coach Steve Owen had never received multi - year contracts ( Owen , in fact , coached the Giants for 22 years without a contract ) . In spite of a painful arm injury , Filchock had a good first year in New York , passing for 1 , 262 yards and 12 touchdowns . He ran for another 371 yards and was chosen an all - pro halfback and the most valuable player for the Giants . His passing threat was what the Giants needed to make Owen ' s offense work , and Filchock led the team from a 3 - 6 - 1 record in 1945 to 7 - 3 - 1 and first place in the Eastern Conference in 1946 . This set up the 1946 NFL title game with the Chicago Bears , scheduled for Sunday , December 15 . The scandal . Hours before game time , a story broke on radio that gamblers had attempted to fix the game — and that Filchock and another Giant back , Merle Hapes , were involved . It later developed New York City mayor Bill O ' Dwyer , NFL commissioner Bert Bell , police commissioner Arthur Wallander and Giants ' owner Tim Mara had met in the mayor ' s office to assess the situation on the day before the game . O ' Dwyer also wanted to meet with the players , and Filchock and Hapes were brought to the mayor ' s residence later that day . At this meeting , Hapes admitted being approached , while Filchock denied it . At 2 a . m . Sunday , only twelve hours before game time , the district attorney ' s office announced that Filchock and Hapes had been offered $ 2 , 500 each plus the profits from a $ 1 , 000 bet that Chicago would win by more than ten points . The players also had been offered off - season jobs supposed to bring them another $ 15 , 000 . Bell announced that although the police had concluded no player had taken a bribe , the league would conduct its own investigation of the offers . The championship game would go ahead as scheduled . Filchock , who during the meeting with the mayor had denied being approached , would be allowed to play in the game . Hapes , who had admitted his failure to report the bribe attempt , would not be allowed to play . Thus the Giants went into the game minus one of their backfield stars and with a cloud hanging over another . When Filchock was introduced , he was roundly booed . He reportedly played hard , suffering a broken nose , but the Giants lost to the Bears 24 - 14 . This was the precise betting line of the gamblers ; they neither won nor lost their bets . Filchock played 50 minutes and was responsible for all of the Giants ' scoring , throwing touchdown passes to Frank Liebel and Steve Filipowicz . He completed 9 of 26 passes for 128 yards and had 6 intercepted . The winning players each received $ 1 , 975 . 82 , the losers $ 1 , 295 . 57 . Both Filchock and Hapes received full shares . The day after the game , the Associated Press reported Alvin J . Paris , a self - styled ' big bettor ' on athletic contests , was arraigned on a bribery charge , accused of having offered Merle Hapes and Frank Filchock , Giant backfield men , $ 2 , 500 each to agree not to play their best in the championship contest . Police exonerated both players but Hapes was kept out of the game at the order of Bert Bell , commissioner of the league . Filchock , the key man in the Giants ' backfield , played virtually all the game . The aftermath . Alvin Paris was convicted of bribery January 8 , 1947 . The same day Bell suspended both of the players , even though the judge in the Paris trial had found that " Frank Filchock was not an accomplice , and was in fact an unfortunate victim of circumstances . " After Paris ' s trial , three other gamblers were indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges . Paris had not taken the stand in his own defense , but he was the prosecution ' s star witness at the second trial . He testified that $ 500 was bet for each of the two players on the Giants to win their final regular - season game , against the Redskins . This was presumably without the players ' knowledge . Paris paid them the proceeds after the game . According to him Hapes accepted the money without argument , but Filchock required some persuasion . Paris also claimed that Hapes was willing to throw the championship game and that Filchock considered the offer overnight before rejecting it . Hapes and Filchock also testified . They strongly denied ever receiving any money from Paris or ever considering any bribery offers . The three conspirators in the second trial were convicted and received sentences of five to ten years . Paris ' s sentencing had been deferred until after the second trial . His testimony for the prosecution was taken into account , and he received only a one - year sentence . He was paroled after nine months . Within 24 hours of the second verdict , Commissioner Bell extended the suspensions of Filchock and Hapes indefinitely . He did this , he said , because he had found the players " guilty of actions detrimental to the welfare of the National Football League and of professional football . " This suspension applied not only to the NFL , but to all minor leagues associated with it . It did not apply to the new All - America Football Conference , but they were not about to pick up a player banned by the senior league for gambling connections . In effect , Filchock was banned from playing professional football in the United States . When Filchock was asked about his plans , he replied " I haven ' t made any future plans simply because I never though of being out of football . I still want to play football . I guess I always will . " A second career in Canada . Although no team in the United States would hire Filchock , there was definite interest in Canada . Both the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union ( or " Big Four " ) made offers . Filchock accepted the Tigers ' offer , and on August 13 , 1947 he joined the team as a player - coach . Rumor put his salary at $ 7 , 000 for the season . There was a problem , however . While Canadian football teams were still technically amateur , it was an open secret that all of the teams in Canada ' s two major leagues of the time — the Big Four and the Western Interprovincial Rugby Union ( WIFU ) paid their players . Lew Hayman , then in the process of building his new Montreal franchise , the Alouettes , but who had been involved in football in eastern Canada for many years , said in 1946 : In the days before the war , the players were paid off in the dark . Some of the Canadian players took money and others didn ' t , though nearly all of them accepted gifts . Imports from the United States were paid in cash — somewhere between $ 1 , 000 and $ 1 , 200 for a season . Today you have to pay them all , homebreds or imports , and you have to pay them about four times as much as you did before the war . Everyone knew about this , but no one openly admitted it . For a high - profile , professional player like Frank Filchock to play in the Big Four , pretenses would have to be dropped . Not everyone was willing to do that . Immediately after Filchock ' s signing , the Canadian Rugby Union , an umbrella organization for all levels of football throughout the Dominion , rejected his application for a player ' s certificate without comment , and the IRFU voted three to one that he could not play for Hamilton . Filchock was now blacklisted by every football league in the United States and Canada . Nevertheless , the Tigers were adamant : Filchock would play . Frank played two exhibition games and four league games , all forfeit in advance , before the Big Four voted unanimously to allow him to play . The Tigers finished the 1947 season at 2 - 9 - 1 . Filchock was back with the Tigers for 1948 , but in the meantime the team had resigned from the IRFU . Filchock ' s appearance in Big Four games had increased every team ' s attendance , but due to the lack of a gate - sharing program , the Tigers were able to benefit only up to the 12 , 000 - seat capacity of their own stadium . Since they were paying Filchock ' s salary — undoubtedly the highest in the league — the Tigers felt they should receive some of the benefits from increased attendance at other parks . The three other teams did not see it that way , and the Tigers withdrew from the league . Hamilton Wildcats , who had been playing senior football in the Ontario Rugby Football Union since 1943 , promptly applied to fill the vacancy . They were accepted and the Tigers , a team dating back to 1869 and a founding member of the Big Four in 1907 , were forced to play in the ORFU . In 1950 the Tigers and Wildcats finally merged as the Big Four ' s Hamilton Tiger - Cats . In 1948 Filchock was the MVP of the ORFU . Filchock left the Tigers and returned to the Big Four in 1949 , with Lew Hayman ' s Montreal Alouettes , at a salary reported to be $ 20 , 000 for two years . His earning power was now close to what it had been with the New York Giants . The Alouettes went 8 - 4 in the regular Big Four season , and then beat the ORFU champion Hamilton Tigers 40 - 0 for the Eastern Canadian title . In the Grey Cup they met the Western champions , the Calgary Stampeders . The Stampeders had a 28 - 2 - 1 record over the last two seasons , including a 1948 Grey Cup victory over Ottawa . In the game , Filchock completed 11 of 19 pass attempts for 204 yards , one touchdown and one interception . He also intercepted three Calgary passes . The Alouettes won the game 28 - 15 . Reinstatement . Hoping to end his NFL suspension , in July 1950 Filchock appeared at a hearing before Commissioner Bert Bell . He was accompanied by Leo Dandurand , Alouettes ' president , and the two presented testimonials from businessmen , clergymen and sportsmen lauding his conduct . New York Mayor Bill O ' Dwyer and Assistant District Attorney George Monaghan also urged Bell to lift Filchock ' s suspension . Bell agreed to reinstate Filchock . In his announcement he state that Filchock " has at all times conducted himself in a manner reflecting the highest standards of sportsmanship . . . [ and ] has made a real contribution to the promotion and development of clean sports in Canada . " Jack Mara of the Giants ( Filchock ' s previous NFL team ) announced that he was " glad to hear that Frank has been reinstated . . . < nowiki > [ but ] < / nowiki > we do not plan to make him an offer because we are stressing youth . " Filchock was 33 years old at the time . Filchock returned to Montreal and played the entire 1950 season there . The Alouettes finished out of the playoffs and he then signed with the Baltimore Colts , whose NFL season had not yet ended . The Colts folded after that season , and Filchock never played another down of football in the NFL . Final years in football . In 1951 , Filchock played with the Edmonton Eskimos of the WIFU , and for the first time in Canada his statistics were officially compiled . Official record - keeping began in Western Canada only in 1951 , and not until 1954 in the East . He was made player - coach of the Eskimos in 1952 and led them to the WIFU championship . He was named to the second team Western all - stars the same year . The Eskimos fired him after they lost the 1952 Grey Cup , reportedly because he demanded more money . Pro football coaching career . In 1953 Filchock moved to the Saskatchewan Roughriders , where he was both quarterback and head coach . This was his last season as a player , but he continued to coach at Regina through 1957 , compiling a regular - season record of 41 - 35 - 4 with the team but never making it to the Grey Cup . In 1958 he became head coach of the Sarnia Golden Bears of the ORFU . The team had an outstanding crop of imports , including quarterback and kicker Gino Cappelletti . It suffered only one defeat in ten games , and that by only a single point . Two playoff victories gave Filchock his second league championship as a coach . However , the ORFU was no longer considered a major league and had lost its berth in the Eastern playoffs some years earlier . In 1959 Filchock served as backfield coach for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League . He was named the first head coach of the Denver Broncos of the new American Football League on January 1 , 1960 . In December , 1961 , he was fired after two disappointing seasons . His final record with the Broncos was 7 - 20 - 1 . In 1964 he was defensive coach with the Quebec Rifles of the United Football League . That was his final year in football . All told , he had played or coached professional football in twelve cities , six leagues ( he just missed the AAFC by playing with Baltimore the year of the merger ) and two countries . He had also starred in high school , collegiate and service football , and had played minor - league baseball with three teams . His overall major - league record as head coach was 67 - 65 - 7 .