Frosty Peters

Frosty Peters
No. 1, 32
Position: Back
Personal information
Date of birth: (1904-04-22)April 22, 1904
Place of birth: Creston, Iowa
Date of death: April 17, 1980(1980-04-17) (aged 75)
Place of death: Decatur, Illinois
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight: 183 lb (83 kg)
Career information
College: Illinois
Career history
As player:
As coach:
  • Memphis Tigers (1933–1934)
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Forrest Ingram "Frosty" Peters (April 22, 1904 – April 17, 1980) was an American football player who played three seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Providence Steam Roller, Portsmouth Spartans, Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cardinals.[1] He played college football at Montana State and Illinois.[2] He was known for his drop kicking ability.

College career

Peters played for the Montana State Bobcats of Montana State College in 1924. He converted 17 drop kicks into field goals in a game between the Bobcats' freshman team and Billings Polytechnic Institute.[3][4] The Bobcats won the game by a score of 64–0.[5] The Bobcats helped him set up his drop kicks by falling short of the goal line instead of scoring.[5][6] Peters also made 15 drop kicks in a game once. Montana State athletic director Schubert Dyche said that "We agreed that every time we got inside the 30-yard line. Frosty would drop kick one."[7]

He transferred to play for the Illinois Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois in 1925, where he was a part of the Illini freshman football team.[8][9][10] He was heralded by some to be a potential successor to Red Grange.[10][11][12] Peters lettered in football for the Illini in 1926, 1928 and 1929.[3] He sat out the 1927 season due to a knee injury.[12] He helped lead the Illini to the outdoor national championship as a member of the 1927 track and field team.[3] Peters played in the 1930 East–West Shrine Game.[13]

Professional football career

Peters played for the Providence Steam Roller and Portsmouth Spartans of the NFL in 1930. He then played for the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers in 1931 and the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL in 1932.[2] He played for the Memphis Tigers from 1932 to 1934.[14][15] Peters was also coach of the Tigers from 1933 to 1934, serving as a player-coach.[15] He was named second team all-league by the coaches while playing for the Tigers of the American Football League in 1934.[15][16] He was also later a player-coach with the St. Louis Gunners.[17]

Professional baseball career

Peters spent time playing professional baseball in the 1930s.[3][14] He attended George Barr umpire school in Hot Springs, Arkansas.[18] He spent time as a baseball umpire, serving in the Florida State League and then the American Association (AA).[3][19] Peters's stint in the AA was interrupted by service in World War II.[3] He was a sergeant during World War II and spent time instructing trainees at an army air forces technical training command detachment at the University of Michigan.[20] He was assaulted by an AA manager in 1946. Peters then resigned, stating that "when an umpire gets socked and they fine the guy only $100 and five days, it's an open invitation for everybody in the league to start punching you around."[21]

References

  1. "1989 - 1980 Pro Football Necrology List". oldestlivingprofootball.com. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "FORREST PETERS". profootballarchives.com. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Happy 66th, Ron Guenther". news-gazette.com. October 1, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  4. Murray, Fec (October 31, 1930). "Knock Out Drop-Kickers". The Stanford Daily. p. 5. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "BOBCAT ATHLETIC TRADITIONS". msubobcats.com. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  6. "Bobcat, Grizzly All-Century Teams". billingsgazette.com. November 18, 2000. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  7. "Krivik Revives Drop Kicking As Modern Art". Schenectady Gazette. Associated Press. October 18, 1945. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  8. "1925 Illini Freshman Squad Best in Years". Urbana Daily Courier. December 19, 1925. p. 6. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  9. "Athletic Coaches To Give Special Coaching Courses". The Kentucky Kernel. April 20, 1928. p. 7. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Frosty Peters Shivers in His Role as Illini". Chicago Tribune. December 6, 1925. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  11. Brown, Norman E. (October 17, 1926). "Not a Second Red Grange: But Just Himself, Trying to Play His Best Football". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Frosty Peters Quits Illinois for Semester". Chicago Tribune. September 24, 1927. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  13. "ILLINI IN ALL-STAR GAMES" (PDF). grfx.cstv.com. p. 349. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  14. 1 2 "Frosty Peters" (PDF). archives.library.illinois.edu. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 Gill, Bob (1991). "Tigers Roar in Tennessee" (PDF). profootballresearchers.org. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  16. Gill, Bob (1983). "THE BEST OF THE REST: PART ONE" (PDF). profootballresearchers.org. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  17. "TO STOP PETERS; GUNNERS DEFEAT CANTON, 33 TO 4". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. November 4, 1935. p. 17. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  18. Blaeuer, Mark (January 13, 2014). "Reaching for the Brass Ring: A Portrait of Doan's 1937 Baseball School". hotspringsbaseballtrail.com. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  19. "Frosty Peters Is Promoted to Association". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. November 29, 1939. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  20. "Former Drop-Kicker and A.A. Umpire Now Uses Lung Power to Drill Army Air Corps Trainees". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. June 6, 1943. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  21. Lanctot, Neil (2008). Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 433.
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