Eddie Price

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 1975

University: Tulane

Induction Year: 1975

In producing running backs, Warren Easton High was on a roll in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Steve Van Buren, who played end for Coach Johnny Brechtel’s Eagles, and Eddie Price both used the New Orleans school as a springboard to college and National Football League fame.

In 1942, Price led Warren Easton to its first state title since 1921. He gained 134 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns in a semifinal playoff victory over Baton Rouge High, and a threw a pass for the only touchdown in a 6-0 victory over Jennings in the championship game.

A year later, Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy called Price the best prep prospect in the country – and had no trouble luring him to South Bend.

The only thing that kept Price from playing for the Fighting Irish was World War II.

When he enrolled in the Navy’s V-5 program at South Bend, the game plan called for Price to be stationed there during the war so he could play football. But before his papers were processed, he had to report to his draft board in New Orleans. They allowed him to enlist in the Navy and await the papers, but before they arrived he was on his way to San Diego – and the South Pacific.

After the war, Notre Dome’s loss was Tulane’s gain. After surviving landings are Saipan Leyte, Luzon and Guam, Price was no longer fascinated by the dream of following the Fighting Irish tradition established by Knute Rockne and George Gipp. He became a 21-year-old freshman at Tulane and married Joyce Prats, a sister of teammate Ray Prats, during the 1946 Christmas holidays.

A 103-yard kickoff return by Price helped Tulane upset Alabama 21-20 in 1947, and the Green Wave proved it was no fluke by beating the Crimson Tide again in the opening games of both the 1948 and 1949 seasons. Since then, rules have been changed to list all returns from the end zone as 100 yards.

Price led the Southeastern Conference in rushing in 1949 with 1,178, and nearly equaled that total the following year with 1,137 yards although he missed two games because of injuries.

He ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns in a 46-0 romp past LSU in 1948, but the highlight of his college career was a tackle-breaking run for the only touchdown in the final minutes of Tulane’s victory over Mississippi State that year.

He led Coach Henry Frnka’s Green Wave to a 9-1 season in 1948, but the Sugar Bowl committee opted for Oklahoma and North Carolina – two teams ranked among the top five in the final Associated Press poll – and No. 12 Tulane was shut out of the other bowls despite its No. 12 ranking in the AP poll.

A year later, the Green Wave won the SEC title and was one victory away from a Sugar Bowl bid. But after a week of painting raids at both schools, a “Cinderella” LSU team scored a 21-0 victory over Tulane before an SEC record crowd of 79,292 spectators as Kenny Konz returned a punt 92 yards for one Tiger touchdown and Lee Hedges ran 65 yards on a dive play for another. The Sugar Bowl bid went to LSU and Tulane once again stayed home for the holidays.

Price led the nation in yards per carry that season, averaging 6.6 yards and setting a Tulane record with 3,095 yards rushing in his career. But he was overlooked on the first round of the National Football League draft. The New York Giants then selected him on the second round.

All he did as a rookie was gain 703 yards rushing, fourth best in the league, despite missing four games because of an injury. The following year, he led the NFL in rushing with 971 yards and broke Van Buren’s record of 217 carries in one season. If a 70-yard touchdown run hadn’t been erased by a penalty in the Giants’ final game, he would’ve been the third player in NFL history to break the 1,000 yard rushing barrier.

“Price was a marked man,” Giants coach Steve Owen recalled of the 1951 season. “Every time he took the ball in our last four games, he knew he was in for punishment. Stop him and you stopped us.”

His yardage total slipped to 752 yards in 1952, but Price was chose Back of the Year over Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham. After a foot injury kept him out of all but three games in 1953, Price had a different role when Jim Lee Howell succeeded Owen has head coach and Vince Lombardi came in from West Point to direct the offense. Price still was the top running threat in Lombardi’s power sweet, but he also became a primary target for Charlie Conerly’s passes with 28 receptions for 352 yards.

He had only 30 carries and one reception in an injury-plagued 1955 season before calling it quits – on year before the Giants finally shed their bridesmaid label and won the NFL title with a 47-7 rout of the Chicago Bears in the championship game.

Despite the recurring injuries, Price set a club record with a career total of 3,183 yards rushing on teams that included Tom Landry, Emlem Tunnell and Dick Nolan in the defensive backfield – with Frank Gifford playing on both offense and defense.

Price also set club records for 100-yard games (a career total of 11) and average per carry in one season with 5.6 yards. He died in 1979 at the age of 52, four years after he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.