| Team: | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Year: | 1952 |
| Record: | 7–5 |
| Division Place: | 2nd (tied) NFL American |
| Coach: | Jim Trimble |
| Owner: | Happy Hundred |
| Stadium: | Shibe Park |
| Playoffs: | Did not qualify |
| Shortnavlink: | Eagles seasons |
The 1952 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 20th in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 4–8, winning seven games.[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
Head coach Wayne Millner took over, for ailing head coach Bo McMillin in 1951, would resign on September 8, 3 weeks before the 1952 season started, citing health as the reason for stepping down.
The 1952 NFL draft was held on January 17, 1952. Picks made by New York Yanks were assigned to the new Dallas Texans franchise. There were 12 teams picking for 32 rounds.
The Eagles made the 4th pick in each round and made 31 picks in the 32 rounds they had picks in. The New York Yanks had the Eagles pick in the 5th round.
The Los Angeles Rams received this year's lottery bonus pick. The Rams used it to pick Bill Wade a quarterback out of Vanderbilt University. The Eagles used their number-4 pick in the 1st round to take Johnny Bright a back of Drake University. Johnny Bright, was chosen before fellow backs and future NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame members Frank Gifford from University of Southern California and Hugh McElhenny out of University of Washington, passed up playing for the Eagles. Bright later commented:
The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
| = Pro Bowler [2] | = Hall of Famer | =Canadian Football Hall of Famer |
| Rd | width=5% style="background:#006633;" | Pick | width=15% style="background:#006633;" | Player | width=5% style="background:#006633;" | Position | width=15% style="background:#006633;" | School | width=2% style="background:#;" | Rd | width=5% style="background:#006633;" | Pick | width=15% style="background:#006633;" | Player | width=5% style="background:#006633;" | Position | width=15% style="background:#006633;" | School | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Johnny Bright | Back | 2 | 17 | Jim Weatherall | Tackle | Oklahoma | |||||||||||
| 3 | 29 | Lum Snyder | Tackle | Georgia Tech | 4 | 41 | Chuck Ulrich | Tackle | Illinois | ||||||||||
| 5 | 53 | Pick Taken By | New York | Yanks | 6 | 65 | Dick Lemmon | Back | California | ||||||||||
| 7 | 77 | John Thomas | End | Oregon State | 8 | 89 | Wayne Robinson | Center | Minnesota | ||||||||||
| 9 | 101 | Maury Nipp | Guard | Loyola (CA) | 10 | 113 | Gerry McGinley | Guard | Pennsylvania | ||||||||||
| 11 | 125 | Ralph Goldston | Back | Youngstown State | 12 | 137 | Jack Blount | Tackle | Mississippi State | ||||||||||
| 13 | 149 | Ed Hamilton | Back | Kentucky | 14 | 161 | Bob Stringer | Back | Tulsa | ||||||||||
| 15 | 173 | Malcolm Schmidt | End | Iowa State | 16 | 185 | Jim Brewer | Guard | North Texas State | ||||||||||
| 17 | 197 | John Weigle | End | Oklahoma State | 18 | 209 | Ed Romanowski | Back | Scranton | ||||||||||
| 19 | 221 | Talbott Trammell | End | Washington & Lee | 20 | 233 | Bobby Blaik | Back | Army/Colorado College | ||||||||||
| 21 | 245 | Les Wheeler | Guard | Abilene Christian | 22 | 257 | Johnny Turco | Back | Holy Cross | ||||||||||
| 23 | 269 | Maury Schnell | Back | Iowa State | 24 | 281 | Joe Tyrrell | Guard | Temple | ||||||||||
| 25 | 293 | Bob Kelley | Center | West Texas State | 26 | 305 | Bob Albert | Back | Bucknell | ||||||||||
| 27 | 317 | Chuck Hill | Back | New Mexico | 28 | 329 | Johnny Brewer | Back | Louisville | ||||||||||
| 29 | 341 | Tony "Zippy" Morocco | Back | Georgia | 30 | 353 | Don Stevens | Back | Illinois |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 28 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 31–25 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | October 4 | New York Giants | L 7–31 | 1–1 | |
| 3 | October 12 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 26–21 | 2–1 | |
| 4 | October 19 | Cleveland Browns | L 7–49 | 2–2 | |
| 5 | October 26 | at New York Giants | W 14–10 | 3–2 | |
| 6 | November 2 | at Green Bay Packers | L 10–12 | 3–3 | |
| 7 | November 9 | Washington Redskins | W 38–20 | 4–3 | |
| 8 | November 16 | Chicago Cardinals | W 10–7 | 5–3 | |
| 9 | November 23 | at Cleveland Browns | W 28–20 | 6–3 | |
| 10 | November 30 | at Chicago Cardinals | L 22–28 | 6–4 | |
| 11 | December 7 | Dallas Texans | W 38–21 | 7–4 | |
| 12 | December 14 | at Washington Redskins | L 21–27 | 7–5 |
With a record of 7–5, the Eagles fall one game back of Cleveland and failed to make the playoffs. The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams would tie for the National Division title and had to play a Division Championship game before meeting Cleveland in the 1952 NFL Championship Game
(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)
| = 1952 Pro Bowl[3] | = Hall of Famer |
| width=5% style="background:#006633;" | NO. | width=15% style="background:#006633;" | Player | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | AGE | width=6% style="background:#006633;" | POS | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | GP | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | GS | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | WT | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | HT | width=4% style="background:#006633;" | YRS | width=20% style="background:#006633;" | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - align=left | 35 | COACH | 1952 record 7–5–0 | NFL-Eagles Lifetime 7–5–0 | 1st | - align=left | Indiana University | ||||||||||||
| 81 | - align=left | Bibbles Bawel | 22 | DB | 12 | 0 | 185 | 6–1 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 60 | - align=left bgcolor=#ccffcc | Chuck Bednarik+ | 27 | LB-C | 12 | 0 | 233 | 6–3 | 3 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 36 | - align=left | John Brewer | 24 | FB | 12 | 0 | 230 | 6–4 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 10 | - align=left | Adrian Burk | 25 | QB | 12 | 3 | 190 | 6–2 | 2 | - align=left | Baylor | ||||||||
| 33 | - align=left | Russ Craft | 33 | DB-HB | 12 | 0 | 178 | 5–9 | 6 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 17 | - align=left | Fred Enke | 28 | QB | 9 | 0 | 208 | 6–1 | 4 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 53 | - align=left | Ken Farragut | 24 | C-LB | 12 | 0 | 240 | 6–4 | 1 | - align=left | Mississippi | ||||||||
| 27 | - align=left | Neil Ferris | 25 | DB-HB | 8 | 0 | 181 | 5–11 | 1 | Loyola Marymount | |||||||||
| 22 | - align=left | Ralph Goldston | 23 | HB-DB | 9 | 0 | 195 | 5–11 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 86 | - align=left bgcolor=#ccffcc | Bud Grant | 25 | E-DE | 12 | 0 | 199 | 6–3 | 1 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 62 | - align=left | Bill Horrell | 22 | G | 4 | 0 | 222 | 5–11 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 38 | - align=left | John Huzvar | 23 | FB | 12 | 0 | 247 | 6–4 | Rookie | - align=left | North Carolina State, and Pittsburgh | ||||||||
| 78 | - align=left | Mike Jarmoluk | 30 | DT-T-MG | 12 | 0 | 232 | 6–5 | 6 | - align=left | Temple | ||||||||
| 76 | - align=left | Bucko Kilroy | 31 | G-MG-T-DT | 12 | 0 | 243 | 6–2 | 9 | - align=left | Temple | ||||||||
| 67 | - align=left | John Magee | 29 | G | 12 | 0 | 220 | 5–10 | 4 | - align=left | La-Lafayette, and Rice | ||||||||
| 68 | - align=left | Maury Nipp | 22 | G | 10 | 0 | 219 | 6–0 | Rookie | - align=left | Loyola Marymount | ||||||||
| 89 | - align=left | Bob Oristaglio | 28 | DE-E | 4 | 0 | 214 | 6–2 | - align=left | Pennsylvania | |||||||||
| 43 | - align=left | Jim Parmer | 26 | FB-HB | 6 | 0 | 193 | 6–0 | 4 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 35 | - align=left | Pete Pihos+ | 29 | E-DE | 12 | 0 | 210 | 6–1 | 5 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 21 | - align=left | Al Pollard | 24 | HB-FB | 12 | 0 | 196 | 6–0 | 1 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 62 | - align=left | Knox Ramsey | 26 | G | 3 | 0 | 216 | 6–1 | 4 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 82 | - align=left | Joe Restic | 25 | E | 3 | 0 | 180 | 6–2 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 52 | - align=left | Wayne Robinson | 22 | LB-C | 12 | 0 | 225 | 6–2 | Rookie | - align=left | Minnesota | ||||||||
| 65 | - align=left | Dan Rogas | 26 | G-DT-T | 10 | 0 | 230 | 6–1 | 1 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 27 | - align=left | Clyde Scott | 28 | HB-DB | 2 | 0 | 174 | 6–0 | 3 | Arkansas, and Navy | |||||||||
| 79 | - align=left | Vic Sears | 34 | T-DT | 12 | 0 | 223 | 6–3 | 11 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 73 | - align=left | Lum Snyder | 22 | T | 11 | 0 | 228 | 6–5 | Rookie | - align=left | Georgia Tech | ||||||||
| 20 | - align=left | Don Stevens | 24 | HB | 11 | 0 | 176 | 5–9 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 44 | - align=left | Bob Stringer | 23 | LB-FB | 12 | 0 | 197 | 6–1 | Rookie | - align=left | |||||||||
| 45 | - align=left | Joe Sutton | 28 | DB-HB | 10 | 0 | 180 | 5–11 | 3 | - align=left | Temple | ||||||||
| 11 | - align=left | Bobby Thomason | 24 | QB | 12 | 9 | 196 | 6–1 | 3 | - align=left | VMI | ||||||||
| 69 | - align=left | Joe Tyrrell | 23 | G | 2 | 0 | 215 | 5–11 | Rookie | - align=left | Temple | ||||||||
| 31 | - align=left | Ebert Van Buren | 28 | DB-LB-FB-HB | 12 | 0 | 210 | 6–2 | 1 | - align=left | LSU | ||||||||
| 83 | - align=left | Bobby Walston | 24 | E-HB-K | 12 | 0 | 190 | 6–0 | 1 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 63 | - align=left | Norm Willey | 25 | DE-G-E | 12 | 0 | 224 | 6–2 | 2 | - align=left | |||||||||
| 75 | - align=left | Frank Wydo | 28 | T-DT | 12 | 12 | 225 | 6–4 | 5 | - align=left | Cornell | ||||||||
| 41 | - align=left | Frank Ziegler | 29 | HB-DB | 11 | 0 | 175 | 5–11 | 3 | - align=left | Georgia Tech | ||||||||
| 88 | - align=left | Jack Zilly | 31 | DE-E | 12 | 0 | 212 | 6–2 | 5 | - align=left | Notre Dame | ||||||||
| 38 Players Team Average | 26.1 | 12 | 208.2 | 6–1.2 | 2.4 |
At the end of the season, Bud Grant was offered a pay raise in his contract. He chose to play football in the CFL(Canadian Football League) instead. He had a career worthy of being named to the CFL's Hall of Fame as a player. Later on he made the Pro Football Hall of Fame as coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Pro Bowl Players
League leaders