Ace Gutowsky LeRoy Erwin " Ace " Gutowsky ( August 2 , 1909 – December 4 , 1976 ) was an American football fullback . He played professional football for eight years from 1932 to 1939 and set the NFL career rushing record in October 1939 . He held the Detroit Lions ' career and single - season rushing records until the 1960s . Early years . Gutowsky was born of Polish extraction in Russia in 1909 . He came to the United States with his father when he was five weeks old . They settled in Kingfisher , Oklahoma , where Gutowsky was raised . Gutowsky learned to play football in the sandlots of Kingfisher and became an outstanding athlete at Kingfisher High School . Pappy Waldorf recruited him to play football at Oklahoma City University . With Waldorf as coach and Gutowsky in the backfield , the Oklahoma City Goldbugs rose to success in football . Former teammate Leo Higbie recalled , " Lynn Waldorf got OCU ' s football program really going in 1927 when he brought the great Ace Gutowsky of Kingfisher to the school . " With Gutowsky in the backfield , the Goldbugs lost only one game in the first two years of the 1930s . Professional football . Gutowsky played eight years of professional football in the National Football League for the Portsmouth Spartans ( 1932 – 1933 ) , Detroit Lions ( 1934 – 1938 ) and Brooklyn Dodgers ( 1939 ) . At and , Gutowsky played principally at the fullback position . As a two - way player , Gutowsky ' s duties on defense were those which in modern football would be associated with a linebacker or defensive back . Playing for the Portsmouth Spartans in 1932 , Gutowsky was tripped by coaching legend George Halas in a championship game against the Chicago Bears . With the Bears leading and four minutes left in the game , Gutowsky took a kickoff and began returning the ball along the sideline . Halas " stuck out his foot and tripped Gutowsky as he ran past with the ball . " The officials didn ' t notice , but Portsmouth coach Potsy Clark " went off like a roman candle " and told Halas he was playing the game under protest . Halas reportedly responded by yelling , " Protest this , " while " saluting Clark with a single finger . " Gutowsky enjoyed his greatest success as a member of the Detroit Lions from 1934 to 1936 . In 1934 , he carried the ball 146 times for the Lions , the highest number of carries by any player during the 1934 NFL season . Gutowsky was also one of the leaders on a defense that ran seven straight shutouts and gave up only 59 points in 13 games . The following year , he was a member of the 1935 Detroit Lions team that defeated the New York Giants in the 1935 NFL Championship Game . In the mid - 1930s , the Lions ' backfield with Gutowsky , Dutch Clark and Ernie Caddel became known as the " Infantry Attack . " While Clark was considered the " flashier " back , Gutowsky was regarded as the " workhorse " and " the one they turned to when the ball was near the goal line . " Teammate Glenn Presnell later recalled that Gutowsky was " a hard line plunger . " In 1936 , the Lions rushed for 2 , 885 yards , a mark that stood as the NFL single - season team rushing record until 1972 . Gutowsky led the NFL that year with 857 yards from scrimmage , ranking ahead of teammate Dutch Clark and future Hall of Fame inductees Bronko Nagurski and Don Hutson . He also ranked second in the NFL behind Tuffy Leemans in rushing attempts ( 191 ) , rushing yards ( 827 ) , and rushing yards per game ( 68 . 9 ) . His six rushing touchdowns in 1936 was exceeded only by his teammate Dutch Clark . His 827 rushing yards was the Lions ' single - single season rushing record until 1960 , when Nick Pietrosante rushed for 872 yards . Gutowsky finished his playing career in 1939 with the Brooklyn Dodgers football team . On October 22 , 1939 , in a 23 – 14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles , Gutowsky broke Cliff Battles ' NFL career rushing record . While his NFL rushing record was short - lived , he continued to hold the Lions ' career rushing record into the 1960s . When he concluded his career in the NFL , Gutowsky , Clarke Hinkle and Bronko Nagurski were rated as " the greatest fullbacks ever to play professional football . " Later years . Gutowsky ' s father , Assaph " Ace " Gutowsky , was in the oil business . J . M . Young was convinced that a major petroleum deposit lay under his farm in the area north of Oklahoma City and scouted the area extensively . In 1942 or 1943 , J . M . Young discovered an oil field at West Edmond , Oklahoma , that was estimated at 117 , 000 , 000 barrels . J . M . Young discovered the oil field using a " doodlebug , " a " homemade divining rod " and " struck it rich " as several major oil companies bought leases from him . By 1944 , " Time " magazine called the West Edmond field the " greatest concentration of rotary drilling rigs in the world . " After serving in the U . S . Army during World War II , Gutowsky went into the oil business with his father . He also served as the line coach for Oklahoma City University in the late 1940s . Gutowsky became a champion bridge player , winning the 1951 Men ' s Board - a - Match Teams . The American Contract Bridge Association gave him the " life master " ranking , making him the first Oklahoman to achieve the highest ranking in bridge . Gutwosky died of cancer in December 1976 at Kingfisher , Oklahoma . He was buried in the Kingfisher Cemetery .