Pudge Heffelfinger

William Heffelfinger

Heffelfinger at Yale
Date of birth	(1867-12-20)December 20, 1867
Place of birth	Minneapolis
Date of death	April 2, 1954(1954-04-02) (aged 86)
Place of death	Blessing, Texas
Career information
Position(s)	Guard
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight	178 lb (81 kg)
College	Yale
Career history
As coach
1893	California
1894	Lehigh
1895	Minnesota
As player
1892	Chicago Athletic Association
1892	Allegheny Athletic Association
Career highlights and awards
3× All-American (1889, 1890, 1891) Camp All-time All-America team W. Pennsylvania Circuit champion (1892) First recognized professional football player Total coaching record: 17–13–1
College Football Hall of Fame, 1951

William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867 – April 2, 1954) was an American football player and coach. He is considered the first athlete to play football professionally, having been paid to play in 1892.

• Origins of American football

• Close relations:

• Black players in professional American football
• Homosexuality in American football
• Concussions in American football
• Rugby union comparison
• Rugby league comparison
• Canadian football comparison
• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• College Football Hall of Fame
• Years in American football

William Heffelfinger was born in 1867 in the then-small city of Minneapolis. William's father was Major Christopher B. Heffelfinger, his mother was Mary Ellen Totton. Both his parents were born in Pennsylvania. Maj. Heffelfinger came by riverboat to Minneapolis in 1857, joined the Union Army at the outset of the Civil War, was wounded at Gettysburg, and after the war started the family shoe manufacturing business. During William's lifetime, the Heffelfinger family rose to prominence in Minneapolis.

As a boy, William Heffelfinger was nicknamed "Pudge". He played baseball and football in high school. Occasionally, during his junior and senior years of high school he also played baseball, as a catcher, and football, as a halfback, for the University of Minnesota.