The 43rd player on our list was one of the most famous Rockfordians of the first half of the 20th Century.
Rex Enright was a basketball and football star at Rockford High School and Notre Dame and one of our earliest NFL players. It was his career after he was done playing where he's now remembered the most.
At Rockford High School, Enright had the misfortune of having his junior football season occur during World War I. Enright was a starting end and halfback for the 1918 Rabs. Rockford ended up playing only four games because the draft drained so many players that several games were canceled.
Rockford crushed Beloit, Freeport and LaGrange by a combined score of 164-0 before ending the abbreviated schedule with a 0-0 tie with Elgin. Enright was mostly a blocking back and didn't score a single touchdown.
The 1919 Rabs got to a play a full campaign. Rockford went 8-2 with Ralph "Moon" Baker emerging as a star in the backfield. Enright started the season at right end but was moved to fullback where he was voted second team all-conference. Rex's only touchdown came in week three on a 20-yard pass reception.
Enright spent the next year heading strong amateur basketball teams that played a regional schedule. Finally, in the fall of 1921 he enrolled at Notre Dame hoping to play basketball and make the Fighting Irish football squad then being run by the still legendary Knute Rockne.
The success came more quickly in basketball. He didn't make Rockne's varsity team until 1923, where he was a backup at fullback for a 9-1 Notre Dame squad, scoring two touchdowns.
Enright did not play football in 1924. A clip in the Rockford newspapers said Rex used the season to focus on his studies.
Rockne welcomed Rex back in 1925 and he started in nine of Notre Dame's 10 games - missing one because of injury. He scored four touchdowns, two against Minnesota, and his final one in a 13-10 win over a Northwestern team that featured Baker, his old teammate at Rockford, as the star back. Notre Dame was a "disappointing" 7-2-1 Rex's senior year. It was one of only two years in the 1920s that Rockne's team had as many as two losses in a season.
Still, Enright's play drew notice. He was named to the "All-Western Team" and Chicago Tribune third team All-American and had opportunities to go several directions in 1926. He was offered a coaching position at St. Joseph's College in Pennsylvania and a chance to play for the fledgling Green Bay Packers.
He picked the Packers and spent two years in what was essentially a struggling startup league. He ended up playing in 19 games, starting 10 and scoring five touchdowns. In 1927, he scored a touchdown against the Chicago Bears, which featured his old Rockford teammate Laurie Walquist at quarterback and defensive back.
Two years of getting beat up in professional football for little pay was enough for Enright. In 1928, he joined the University of North Carolina football coaching staff. In 1931, he moved to the University of Georgia as head basketball coach. He held that job until 1938 when he moved to the University of South Carolina as head football coach. He would coach the Gamecocks in football until 1955 - as well as basketball in 1942-1943 because the college's coach was in the military.
Enright never forgot his Rockford roots. He recruited a number of Rockford athletes to come play for him at Georgia and South Carolina, including Frank Johnson, Chuck Prezioso and Stan Stasica.
He ended up 69-70-7 in football and was South Carolina's all-time winningest coach until Steve Spurrier broke his record and had an 82-62 career record in basketball.
Enright died in 1960. From 1956 to 2012, the University of South Carolina athletic department operated out of the Rex Enright Center.
| No. 43 - Rex Enright, Rockford | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | School | Accomplishments | Points |
| 1918 | High School | Rockford | Winning Team | 1 |
| 1919 | High School | Rockford | Winning Team | 1 |
| Second Team All-Conference | 1 | |||
| 1922 | College | Notre Dame | Freshman on Power 5 Team | 2 |
| 1923 | College | Notre Dame | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1925 | College | Notre Dame | Freshman on Power 5 Team | 2 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| All-American Selection | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1926 | NFL | Green Bay | Played in NFL | 3 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1927 | NFL | Green Bay | Played in NFL | 1 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Total | 27 | |||
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