Jack Jacobs

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This article is about "Indian" Jack Jacobs. For the U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient, see Jack H. Jacobs.

"Indian" Jack Jacobs (August 7, 1919 - January 12, 1974) was a legendary Canadian Football League quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1950-1954), winning the Jeff Nicklin Memorial (MVP) Trophy in 1952, who was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. Though Jacobs did not invent the forward pass, he is widely recognized as one of the key figures in making the forward pass an integral part of professional football. His exciting passing game drew thousands of fans to Blue Bombers games, instigating the need for the city to build a larger stadium, Winnipeg Stadium (now called Canad Inns Stadium).

With Winnipeg, Jacobs completed 709 of 1,330 passes for 11,094 yards. In 1955, he was a scout for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and later, was a coach for the London Lords of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) for two seasons. Jacobs also worked as an assistant coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos.

Jacobs also played quarterback/ defensive back/ tailback/ halfback/ punter in the National Football League with the Cleveland Rams (1942-1945), the Washington Redskins (1946) and the Green Bay Packers (1947-1949) and led the league in punting in 1947 before coming to the CFL.

Though his CFL football career was relatively short, he threw for 104 touchdowns during an era when running the ball was more common.

Winnipeg Stadium, built in 1953, was nicknamed "The House That Jack Built" because of Jacobs' contribution to the success of the team. Since Jacobs' time, the CFL has become known for its fast, wide-open passing game, a feature that distinguishes it from the more run-dominated National Football League.

Jacobs was twice a Grey Cup finalist in the CFL, made the CFL all-star team twice and was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Jacobs died in 1974 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He was popularly known as "Indian Jack" because of his Native American heritage, at a time when the use of such terminology was not seen as offensive.

He was also an actor who played a professional football player in the 1948 movie, Triple Threat.