Fred Gillies | |
Number: | 10, 5, 11, 66, 9 |
Position1: | Tackle, Head coach |
Birth Date: | 9 December 1895 |
Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Death Place: | Flossmoor, Illinois, U.S. |
College: | Cornell |
Playing Years1: | 1920–1926, 1928 |
Coaching Years1: | 1928 |
Career Highlights: |
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Coachpfr: | GillFr0 |
Nfl: | 2514893 |
Frederick Montague Gillies (December 9, 1895 - May 8, 1974) was an American football player and coach for the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He graduated from Cornell University in 1918 and was a member of the Quill and Dagger society. He appeared in 72 games, 51 of which as a starter, as a tackle for the Chicago Cardinals between 1920 and 1933, earning All-Pro honors in 1922. He coached the team in 1928, which was his final season as a player and only as a coach, to a 1-5 record.
Fred later married Blanche Wilder and adopted Theo Janet Howells, the biological daughter of Blanche's sister, Gertrude Wilder. Gillies also worked and volunteered for the Republican Party.In 1932, he was a survivor in a plane crash that took the life of aviator Eddie Stinson, the founder of Stinson Aircraft Company. Gillies suffered a leg injury, as a result of the accident, which left him in a leg brace for the rest of his life.