Lou Creekmur, Lions Offensive Lineman

July 12th, 2009  |  Published in Player Deaths

Lou Creekmur, a hall-of-fame offensive lineman, died last week. He played on the outstanding Detroit Lions teams of the 1950’s.

Pictured here is Creekmur’s rookie card, a 1951 Bowman. The back of the card says he was obtained by the Lions from the “frozen player pool,” which I had to look up. The frozen player pool, it turns out, was where the players from the AAFC were placed when that league folded, and the NFL had a special draft from the pool in 1950. Creekmur did not actually play in the AAFC, but both the Philadelphia Eagles from the NFL and Los Angeles Dons from the AAFC had drafted him in 1948, and evidently the Eagles did not still have the rights to him in 1950. (Instead of playing pro football in 1948, Creekmur stayed in school and got his masters.)
1951 Bowman Lou Creekmur rookie card reverse
The Lions also obtained Bob “Hunchy” Hoernschemeyer from the frozen player pool. That doesn’t have a lot to do with Lou Creekmur, but Hunchy Hoernschemeyer is a great name, so I wanted to mention him.

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