Gold Jacket Spotlight: Hugh McElhenny, 'The King' of Football

Only four weeks into the 1952 NFL season, San Francisco quarterback Frankie Albert had seen enough of rookie teammate Hugh McElhenny’s talent to tag him with a nickname that has stuck for almost 70 years.

“The King.”

Hugh had helped the 49ers beat the Bears with a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown. It was the longest punt return in the NFL that year. He also would record that season’s longest run from scrimmage (89 yards), most all-purpose yards (1,731) and most yards per rushing attempt (7.0) in the league.

And while the numbers over his 13-year career led Hugh to Canton in his first year of eligibility as part of the Class of 1970, his enshrinement presenter summed up how most around the League felt: “The statistics were hollow, because there is no statistic that can describe the beauty and the artistry of Hugh McElhenny running. He was simply the greatest runner of all time.”

This week, Hugh makes another of his magnificent runs – into the Gold Jacket Spotlight.

Running is what Hugh always did best. He was a high school track star, so skilled the 49ers considered signing him to a contract before he played a college game. But Hugh did go the college route, first to a championship Compton Junior College team, then to the University of Washington, where he earned first team All-American honors. His name still can be found in the Huskies’ record book.

The 49ers finally got Hugh in the 1952 Draft with the ninth overall pick. The first time he touched the ball in the pros, he scored on a 40-yard run. He would score eight more times on rushes or pass receptions, blazing his way to unanimous election as Rookie of the Year. He also earned All-Pro status and a spot on the Pro Bowl team.

Two seasons later, John Henry Johnson joined the 49ers, giving the team four future Hall of Fame members in the “Million Dollar Backfield” that played together for three years (1954-56). Hugh played nine seasons in San Francisco overall, making the Pro Bowl five times.

Left unprotected in the 1961 expansion draft, Hugh was an easy choice for the Minnesota Vikings to make, and he returned to form after two injury-plagued seasons had limited his productivity in 1959 and 1960. In Minnesota, he totaled more than 1,000 all-purpose yards and even returned a punt for a touchdown – his first such score since the sensational dash as a rookie that had earned him his nickname.

Refocused attention on Hugh provides another opportunity to appreciate a career that “The King” acknowledged more than 20 years ago had diminished from most football fans’ memories.

In a 1999 interview with a Las Vegas newspaper reporter, Hugh described his post-career days this way: “When you go into the Hall of Fame, it goes like this,” he said, shooting his right hand upward before slowly letting it fall back down. “It fades away.”

Hugh’s legacy never will fade away at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s even brighter this week in the Gold Jacket Spotlight.