{{Short description|American football player (1889–1953)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox NFL biography | name = Frank Nesser | image = | alt = | caption = | number = 19, 61 | position = Fullback, guard, tackle | birth_date = {{Birth date|1889|6|3}} | birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1953|1|1|1889|6|3}} | death_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 4 | weight_lbs = 245 | high_school = | college = None | teams = * Columbus Panhandles (1907–1924) * Akron Indians (1912) * Akron Indians (1914) * Columbus Tigers (1925–1926) | highlights = * Ohio League champion (1914) | statlabel1 = Games played | statvalue1 = 40 | statlabel2 = Games started | statvalue2 = 26 }} '''Frank Raymond Nesser''' (June 3, 1889 – January 1, 1953) was an American professional football player in the Ohio League and the early National Football League (NFL). During his career he played mainly for the Columbus Panhandles, however he did also play for a little for the Akron Indians, whenever he was recruited by Indians manager, Peggy Parratt. Frank was a member of the Nesser Brothers, a group consisting of seven brothers who made-up the most famous football family in the United States from 1907 until the mid-1920s.

Nesser frequently engaged in kicking contests with the legendary Jim Thorpe; he once was credited with a 63-yard field goal and his punts were recalled as averaging 70 yards in the air. Frank was a slow but effective runner and a superior passer, with one sportswriter in 1922 reckoning the "big Columbus fullback" could "throw a forward pass as well as any man in the country."<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/buffalo-courier-all-americans-annihilate/163615033/ "All-Americans Annihilate Panhandles: Hughitt, Kuehl, and Laird Carry Ball Across for Buffalo; Anderson Shines,"] ''Buffalo Courier,'' Oct. 16, 1922, p. 11.</ref> He led the Panhandles in scoring during most of his professional seasons.

Nesser was also a minor league baseball player in the Ohio State League from 1910 to 1914. He later played in the North Carolina State League in 1915 and 1916. After abandoning baseball for a few years he restarted his career in the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League in 1920 and played one final season, in 1921, in the Michigan–Ontario League. He left baseball after nine seasons in which he posted a .325 batting average.

Nesser later worked as a boilermaker for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He died on January 1, 1953, at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He had resided in Amanda, Ohio prior to his death.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Frank Nesser, Ex-Panhandle Gridder, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-akron-beacon-journal/155126465/ |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |agency=Associated Press |date=January 3, 1953 |page=10 |access-date=September 11, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

===Additional sources=== * {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCnbhSRZpgIC | title=Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football | first=Robert W. | last=Peterson | isbn=0-19-511913-4 | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=262 | date=1997-01-01}} * {{cite journal|title=Peggy Parratt MVP |journal=Coffin Corner |publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association |volume=1 |issue=6 |year=1979 |pages=1&ndash;5 |url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/01-06-008.pdf |author=Roberts, Milt |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022111948/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/01-06-008.pdf |archivedate=2012-10-22 }} * {{cite journal|title=Parratt Stays on Top 1914 |journal=Coffin Corner |publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association |pages=1&ndash;3 |url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Parratt_Stays_On_Top.pdf |author=PFRA Research |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226110218/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Parratt_Stays_On_Top.pdf |archivedate=2012-02-26 }} * {{cite journal|title=Elyria Out of Nowhere 1912 |journal=Coffin Corner |publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association |pages=1&ndash;3 |url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Elyria_Out_Of_Nowhere.pdf |author=PFRA Research |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311103800/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Elyria_Out_Of_Nowhere.pdf |archivedate=2012-03-11 }}

==External links== * {{Footballstats |nfl=frank-nesser |espn= |cbs= |yahoo= |si= |pfr=N/NessFr20 |rotoworld= }} * {{Baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br= |fangraphs= |cube= |brm=nesser001fra }} * {{Find a Grave|78774937}}

{{Nesser Brothers}} {{Akron Pros}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesser, Frank}} Category:1889 births Category:1953 deaths Category:American boilermakers Category:American football fullbacks Category:American football guards Category:American football tackles Category:Baseball first basemen Category:Baseball outfielders Category:Akron Indians (Ohio League) players Category:Chillicothe Babes players Category:Columbus Panhandles players Category:Columbus Indians players Category:Columbus Panhandles (Ohio League) players Category:Greensboro Patriots players Category:Lima Cigarmakers players Category:Peoria Tractors players Category:Saginaw Aces players Category:Winston-Salem Twins players Frank Category:Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio Category:Baseball players from Fairfield County, Ohio Category:Baseball players from Columbus, Ohio