Chuck Avedisian

Charles Toros (Chuck) Avedisian (September 19, 1917 – August 26, 1983) was an American football player in the National Football League and a public school administator of athletic programs.

Early life

Born in West Hoboken, New Jersey to parents of Armenian descent, Charles Avedisian grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and graduated from Pawtucket Senior High School (now known as the William E. Tolman High School) in 1936. He entered Providence College where he received a B.Phil degree with the class of 1941, and later studied at Columbia University where he received an M.A. degree in 1944 from Teachers College.

New York Football Giants

Avedisian played college football at Providence College where he was co-captain of the 1940 Friar football team (Providence College no longer has a football team). He then joined the New York Football Giants where he played right guard under coach Steve Owen from 1942 to 1944 (Avedisian is one of two Providence alumni to have played with the Giants, the other being Hank Soar). He was among over 1000 personnel in the NFL at the time who also served in the military in WWII.^[1] At 5'9" and 225 pounds he would be considered rather small by today's norm for a guard where players at this position typically exceed 6' and weigh more than 300 lbs. Avedisian was a member of some notable Giants teams. He started in a game against the Detroit Lions on November 7, 1943 which ended in a scoreless tie.^[2][3][4] No NFL game played since then has ended in a scoreless tie. The 1944 Giants are ranked as the #1 defensive team in NFL history, "...a truly awesome unit".^[5] They gave up only 7.5 points per game (a record that still stands) and shut out five of their ten opponents. In one of those shutouts, a 31-0 victory over the Washington Redskins on December 10, 1944 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, Avedisian (as a defensive guard) intercepted a pass thrown by Redskins great Sammy Baugh and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown.^[6] The next week the Giants lost 14-7 in the 1944 NFL Championship Game played at New York's Polo Grounds to a Green Bay Packers team coached by Curly Lambeau. Avedisian also contributed to football strategy by his invention with Robert G. Trocolor of the "unbalanced T formation"^[7] which they described as "...the most powerful offense in football, conjoining the speed and deceptiveness of the T backfield with the power of the unbalanced line".^[8] Avedisian was inducted into the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972^[9][10] and the New Britain, Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.^[11]

Later years

Following his playing days, Avedisian was a biology teacher and the head football coach at the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York from 1945 to 1951 where his teams compiled a record of 19-18-3. He then embarked on a 28 year career in public school administration as a Director of Physical Education and Athletics, first in the New Britain public school system until 1966 and then for the Darien, Connecticut public schools where he remained until his retirement in 1980. He received many honors for his accomplishments as a physical education administrator including the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance's Channing Mann Award^[12] in 1977 for excellence in athletic administration in public schools. He was married to the former Alyce Basmajian of Providence, Rhode Island from 1944 until his death on August 26, 1983 in New Britain. They had two children, C. Thomas Avedisian of Ithaca, New York and Carole Avedisian of North Andover, Massachusetts.

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