Member Biography

Mel Hein played center for Washington State in the one- platoon era when centers regularly played linebacker on defense. He was an All-America in 1930. In a game with Idaho he intercepted eight passes. Sports writers, voting in a poll conducted by the Seattle Chapter of the National Football Foundation, named him to the all-time Northwest team in 1977. The Football Writers Association named him center on the all-time modern All-America team (50 years, 1920-69). He played 15 years with the New York Giants 1931-45, was all-pro eight times, and set a club record by playing 172 consecutive games. In 1943, he doubled as head coach at Union College in Schenectady, NY, while playing Sundays with the Giants. He worked 15 years as assistant coach at Southern California, was supervisor of officials for the American Football League 1966-69, held the same job with the American Football Conference of the NFL 1970-74. In 1961, Washington State gave him its Distinguished Alumnus Award, the first time it had been given to an athlete. He was born August 22, 1909, in Redding, California and died January 31, 1992, in San Clemente, California.