NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 40 - Robert Reitsch, Rockford

The 40th player on our list was perhaps the best lineman of the 1920s who spent his post-football career supporting a number of Rockford causes.

Robert Reitsch was a second-team All-Big Seven center for the conference champion 1922 Rockford Rabs. Big things were expected out of him in the fall of 1923, but Reitsch was injured and missed the season. 

Still, Reitsch had shown enough to be recruited by the University of Illinois, which was one of the country's top programs under coach Robert Zuppke.

Reitsch spent one year on the freshman team and his final three entrenched in the starting lineup. He was third team All-Western Conference as a sophomore, first team all-conference and third team all-American as a junior and second team all-American and, interestingly, second team all-conference as a senior.

The Illini went 5-3 his sophomore year and his 6-2 his junior year. In 1927, Reitsch's teammates elected him team captain and he led them to a 7-0-1 record, winning the Western Conference and earning recognition as national champions. The Illini's only blemish was a 12-12 tie with Iowa State in week three. They closed the season with wins over Michigan, Iowa, Chicago and Ohio State by a combined score of 56-6. The team lacked star power and instead won with collective effort. Reitsch and guard Russ Crane were the only players named to any all-American teams.

Reitsch passed up pro football to come back to Rockford. He served as St. Thomas football coach for three years and as an Illinois assistant until 1936. He got married in 1929, operated a lumberyard before building StrikeAtReitsch's Bowling Center on North Main Street. He was a decades-long supporter of the Rockford Boys and Girls Club.

Reitsch died in 1998.

No. 40 - Robert Reitsch, Rockford
Year	Level	School	Accomplishments	Points
1922	High School	Rockford	Second Team All-Conference	1
			Winning Team	1
			Conference Champion	1
1923	High School	Rockford	Injured	0
1924	College	Illinois	Freshman at Power 5 School	2
1925	College	Illinois	Letter Winner at Power 5 School	4
			Third Team All-Conference	0.5
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1926	College	Illinois	Letter Winner at Power 5 School	4
			First Team All-Conference	1
			Third Team All-American	0.5
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1927	College	Illinois	Letter Winner at Power 5 School	4
			Second Team All-Conference	0.5
			Second Team All-America	1
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			National Champion	1
Total				27.5

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players