Emerson Cole
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| Positions | Fullback Linebacker Defensive back | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | December 10, 1927 Carrier Mills, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | June 4, 2019 (aged 91) Toledo, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Swanton (OH) | ||||||||||||
| College | Toledo | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1950: 12th round, 156th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
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Emerson Elvin Cole (December 10, 1927 – June 4, 2019) was an American professional football fullback and linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 1950s. He played college football at the University of Toledo, and still held the school record for rushing yards in a single season, with 1,162, as of 2013.
Cole was born in Illinois and grew up in Swanton, Ohio, where he was a standout athlete in high school. He attended Toledo on an athletic scholarship and was a mainstay on the football team between 1947 and 1949, setting several school records. The Browns selected him late in the 1950 NFL draft, and groomed him as the replacement for Marion Motley. Cole ran for more than 100 yards in 1950, when the Browns won the NFL championship, and saw his playing time increase the following year after Motely was injured. He was cut, however, in 1952 after coming into conflict with head coach Paul Brown.
After a short stint with the Chicago Bears, Cole retired from football and became a deputy sheriff back in Ohio. He later held jobs with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, including as the statewide compliance director. He retired in 1986. Cole was inducted into Toledo's athletics hall of fame in 1984.