Menil Mavraides
{{Short description|American football player (1931–1999)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL player
|name=Menil Mavraides
|image=Menil Mavraides 1953 (cropped).jpg |
||caption=Mavraides, circa 1953
|position=Offensive guard
|number=64 & 65
|birth_date={{Birth date|1931|11|17}}
|birth_place=Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|1999|6|5|1931|11|17}}
|death_place=
|draftyear=1954
|draftround=4th
|draftpick=45
|college=Notre Dame
|teams=
|pfr=MavrMe20
}}
Aristomeni S. Menil Mavraides (November 17, 1931 – June 5, 1999) was an American professional football guard for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League in 1954 and 1957.[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MavrMe20.htm ProfootballReference.com] With the nickname "Minnie", he was listed at 6' 2" and 220 lbs.{{cite web|url=http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=MAVRAMEN01 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2010-02-06 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218192057/http://databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=MAVRAMEN01 |archivedate=2010-02-18 }}
Early life
Mavraides was born November 17, 1931, in Lowell, Massachusetts. He played for the Lowell High School Red Raiders football team under head coach Ray Riddick.
College career
Mavraides went on to play for Notre Dame from 1950 to 1953. At Notre Dame he played under head coach Frank Leahy, who was the former line coach for the Seven Blocks of Granite where Learhy coached Mavraides' high school coach Ray Riddick. Here, Mavraides played shoulder-to-shoulder with Tackle Art Hunter, Center Jim Schrader, and Fullback Neil Worden as the main blockers for Heisman Trophy winning running back Johnny Lattner.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fanbase.com/Menil-Mavraides/teammates |title=Menil Mavraides' teammates | Fanbase |access-date=2010-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208155808/http://www.fanbase.com/menil-mavraides/teammates/ |archive-date=2015-12-08 |url-status=dead }}
During his sophomore year, Mavraides was instrumental in helping the Irish beat the 9-0 Rose Bowl bound USC Trojans at home by recovering a late game fumble deep in Trojan territory."Reading Eagle" article "Coast Kings Handed First Grid Setback" by Charles Chamberlain" Nov.30, 1952.
His senior year, the 1953 Notre Dame finished the season 9-0-1 and was runner up to the National Championship,{{Cite web|url=http://www.raresportsfilms.com/1953notredame.html|title = Rare Sports Films - Vintage Baseball Video Sports Auto Racing Events}} and had an unprecedented 12 players drafted to '54 NFL. Mavraides also finished his college career being ranked #1 in all NCAA with 27pts in kick scoring.
In the September 13th, 1954 Sports Illustrated article Herman Hickman describes the 1953 Notre Dame Team by writing;
Frankly, it's hard to see how any squad could lose such men as halfback Johnny Lattner, fullback Neil Worden, tackle Art Hunter, center Jim Schrader, and guard Menil Mavraides and still be a top-ranked team. Each was on some All-American or other. Lattner, Worden and Hunter were first-round Pro draft choices. Schrader was a second-round choice. Mavraides a third. But Notre Dame is not an ordinary football team, it's Notre Dame... Notre Dame doesn't lose two often.
Before the start of the 1954 NFL season, Mavraides, joined four of his Fighting Irish classmates, in the 1954 summer classic College All-Star Game, where they lost 31 to 6 to the Detroit Lions in front of 93,000 fans.[http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-fb-a-allstargame.html UND] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031164136/http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-fb-a-allstargame.html |date=2015-10-31 }}
Later life
In 1986, Lowell High school inducted Mavraides into the LHS Athletic Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/Alumni/Documents/HALL%20OF%20FAME%20INDUCTEES.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226123647/http://lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/Alumni/Documents/HALL%20OF%20FAME%20INDUCTEES.pdf |archivedate=2012-02-26 }}
References
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External links
- {{commonscatinline}}
{{Eagles1954DraftPicks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mavraides, Menil}}
Category:Philadelphia Eagles players
Category:Sportspeople from Lowell, Massachusetts
Category:Players of American football from Middlesex County, Massachusetts