:Marty Below

{{Infobox college football player

|name=Marty Below

|image=Marty Below.png

|image_size=125px

|birth_date={{Birth date|1899|1|26}}

|birth_place=Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S.

|death_date={{Death date and age|1984|6|30|1899|1|26}}

|death_place=Evanston, Illinois, U.S.

|school=Wisconsin Badgers

|currentposition=Tackle

|pastschools=Wisconsin–Oshkosh
Wisconsin–Madison (1922–1923)

|highlights =

Consensus All-American (1923)
Third-team All-American (1922)
2× First-team All-Big Ten (1922, 1923)

|CFBHOF_id=1441

|CFBHOF_year=1988

}}

Martin Paul BelowFull name from Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. (January 26, 1899 – June 30, 1984) was an American football player. He played at the tackle for the Wisconsin Badgers football team and was selected as a consensus All-American in 1923. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Early years

Below was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1899.{{cite web|title=Marty Below Member Profile|publisher=College Football Hall of Fame|access-date=September 6, 2014|url={{College Football HoF/url|id=1441}}}} He played basketball and football at Oshkosh High School and served in the United States Marine Corps during World War I.{{cite book|title=On Wisconsin!: A Celebration of Football, Basketball, and Other Badger Sports|author=Don Kopriva |author2=Jim Mott |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.|year=2014 |page=45}}

University of Wisconsin

After being discharged from the military, Below attended the Oshkosh State Teachers College (later renamed the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh) where he played football and basketball. In 1922, Below transferred to the University of Wisconsin at Madison.{{cite news|title=Two Oshkosh Men Are Gaining Fame at the University: Work of Leonard Smith and Marty Below on Wisconsin Football Team Is High Class|newspaper=The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, WI)|date=October 23, 1922|page=8}} He played at the tackle position for the Wisconsin Badgers football team in 1922 and 1923.{{cite news|title=Below A Bright Star: Former Oshkosh Athlete, Captain And Star Tackle for Wisconsin Looms Large|newspaper=The Daily Northwestern|date=October 5, 1923|page=18}} At the end of the 1922 season, Below was selected as a first-team All-American by the New York Tribune{{cite news|title=M'Carthy Picks Them In Pairs|work=The Newark Advocate|date=1922-12-05}} and Norman E. Brown,{{cite news|author=Norman E. Brown|title=Below Wins Place on 'All-American' Eleven Selected by Prominent Sports Writer: Harry Kipke Named as Year's Best All-Round Man|work=Capital Times|location=Madison, WI|date=1922-12-08}} a third-team All-American by Walter Camp,{{cite news|title=Championship Locke At Quarter on Camp's First Team|work=Iowa City Press-Citizen|date=1922-12-26}} and a first-team All-Western player by Walter Eckersall of the Chicago Daily Tribune.{{cite news|title=Here Are Eckersall's All-Western Football Stars|author=Walter Eckersall|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |date=December 10, 1922|page=A1|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/175077364}}

At the team banquet in late November 1922, the Wisconsin players chose Below as the captain of the 1923 team.{{cite news|title=Badgers' New Captain|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |date=November 26, 1922|page=A4|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/175053701}} During the 1923 season, the Badgers played Red Grange's Fighting Illini to a scoreless tie. Grange later called Below "the greatest lineman that I ever played against".{{cite book|title=University of Wisconsin Football|author=Dave Anderson|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2005|page=38}} In picking Below for his all-time team, Grange in 1926 said, "We always avoided his side of the line, knowing that we could gain nothing through him."{{cite news|title=On All-Star Eleven: "Marty" Below, Former Oshkosh Man, Is Chosen for Mythical Team by Famous Grid Warrior|newspaper=The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, WI)|date=December 1, 1926|page=12}} At the end of the 1923 season, Below was selected as a consensus member of the 1923 College Football All-America Team. He received first-team honors from Athletic World magazine (chosen by 500 coaches),{{cite news|title=Athletic World All America|work=The Decatur Review|date=1923-12-16}} Football World magazine,ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1155 Norman E. Brown, and Davis J. Walsh, sports editor for the International News Service.{{cite news|title=Walsh Picks Three Teams of All-Americans In 1923 Seasonal Postmortem|work=The Coshocton Tribune|date=1923-12-06}}

Later years

In February 1924, Below announced that, despite receiving multiple offers, he would not play professional football. He concluded his class work at the end of the fall semester in 1923 and stated that he intended to pursue a career in business.{{cite news|title=Marty Below Is Done With Football|newspaper=The Daily Northwestern|date=February 27, 1924|page=11}} He appeared at a Madison gymnasium with a written offer from the manager of one of the top professional teams, tore it up, and threw it in a waste basket, stating: "No one loves to play football any better than I do, but in my opinion there is no comparison between college and professional football. I have completed my work in college and therefore I have played my last game."{{cite news|title=Marty Below Ends Career On Gridiron|newspaper=Appleton Post-Crescent|date=February 27, 1924|page=10}}

Below was employed until 1948 by Commonwealth Edison in Chicago. From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, he was employed by the Kieffer-Nolde Engraving Company in Chicago. He was president of the Wisconsin Alumni Association. He died in 1984 at Evanston, Illinois.

Below was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.{{cite news|title=College Hall of Fame elects four members|newspaper=Spartanburg Herald-Journal|date=January 22, 1988|page=D6|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19880122&id=NjssAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f84EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5793,2449390}} He was also inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

References

Category:1899 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:American football tackles

Category:Wisconsin Badgers football players

Category:Wisconsin–Oshkosh Titans football players

Category:All-American college football players

Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Sportspeople from Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Category:Players of American football from Wisconsin

Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I