No. 41 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position: | Halfback | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Greenwood, Wisconsin, U.S. | October 1, 1931||||||||
Died: | July 28, 2023 | (aged 91)||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Greenwood (WI) | ||||||||
College: | Wisconsin | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1953 / Round: 14 / Pick: 161 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR |
Harland Irvin Carl (October 1, 1931 – July 28, 2023) was an American football player and coach. As a halfback in the National Football League (NFL), he helped the Chicago Bears reach the 1956 NFL Championship Game before a knee injury ended his career.
Carl grew up in Greenwood, Wis., and both played and coached football for the Wisconsin Badgers. As a Badgers player, Carl ran for more than 100 yards in a game four times and is one of only 11 players in program history to top 100 yards in a game as a true freshman. [1]
Carl shared a backfield with Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche and led Wisconsin to the program's first bowl game appearance: the 1953 Rose Bowl. [2] While the Badgers lost that game 7-0 to the USC Trojans, Carl was part of Wisconsin's best chance to score. According to a news report, in the waning minutes of the game, Wisconsin quarterback Jim Haluska targeted Carl in the end zone: "Carl juggled the perfectly thrown pass from Haluska, and his momentum carried him out of bounds before he was able to secure it." [3]
Carl was selected in the 14th round of the 1953 NFL draft and served two years in the Army before joining the Bears. [4] He played nine games for the Bears, scoring his lone touchdown against San Francisco in a 38-21 win. [5] Carl was the last Bears player to wear No. 41 before Brian Piccolo, after which the team retired the number. [6]
After his playing career, he joined the Neenah High School football coaching staff from 1958 through 1966, the last four years as head coach, where he accumulated four straight Mid-Eastern Conference titles with an overall 27-3-2 record. [7] Carl returned to the Wisconsin Badgers as an assistant coach under Milt Bruhn in 1966 and under John Coatta from 1967 to 1969. [8]
Carl later worked for fellow retired NFL player Bob Skoronski at Valley School Supply in Appleton, Wis., as well as at Wisconsin Athletic Products, where he sold a basketball rack called the "Rol-O-Bin" used in gyms across the country. [9]
While serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army stationed in Fort Eustis, Carl got engaged to Lesley Jean Riley in 1955. [10] They had four children: Lesa, Rick, Jeff and Greg. He died on July 28, 2023, at the age of 91. [11]