| Bob Shiring | |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Weight | 250 pounds (113 kg) |
| Position(s) | Center |
| Teams | |
| c1894-1900 1901 1902 1903-1906 1907 1909 |
Pittsburgh Athletic Club Homestead Library & A. C. Pittsburgh Stars Massillon Tigers All-Massillon Pittsburgh Lyceum |
Robert Shiring was a professional football player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best known for playing for the Massillon Tigers from 1903 until 1907.[1] However he also played for the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League in 1902. Since the Stars consisted of the best professional players from western Pennsylvania at the time, it can be said that Shiring was considered the best at his position, center, in the region (and probably in the country).[2] Prior to playing for the Stars, Shiring played for the Pittsburgh Athletic Club during the late 1890s and the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901. He finally played in 1909 for the Pittsburgh Lyceum, Pittsburgh's last championship professional football team, until the 1970s.[3]
In 1906 Shiring was a figure in betting scandal between the Massillon Tigers and the rivial Canton Bulldogs. The Canton Bulldogs-Massillon Tigers Betting Scandal was the first major scandal in professional football. It was more notably the first known case of professional gamblers' attempting to fix a professional sport. It refers to an allegation made by a Massillon newspaper charging the Bulldogs' coach, Blondy Wallace, and Tigers end, Walter East, of conspiring to fix a two game championship series between the two clubs. When the Tigers won the second a final game of a championship series and were named pro football's champions, Wallace was accused of throwing the game for Canton.[4][5]
However E. J. Stewart, the Tigers' coach and the editor of the Massillon Independent, charged that an actual attempt was made to bribe some of the Tiger players and that Wallace had been involved. His accusation was that an attempt had been made to bribe some Massillion players before the first game. According Stewart, Tiny Maxwell and Shiring of Massillon had been solicited to throw the first game by East. Maxwell and Shiring then reported the offer to the Tigers' manager and the scandal ended before it began. The scandal was said to have ruined professional football in Ohio until the mid 1910s.[6]