Weldon Humble

Who was Weldon Humble?

Weldon Gaston "Hum" Humble was an American football guard who played five seasons in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Texans in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Humble grew up in Texas and was a mult-sport athlete at his San Antonio high school. He enrolled at Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1940 and played three seasons on the school's football team. Humble then spent three years in the U.S. Marines during World War II, serving in the Pacific War and earning a Bronze Star Medal before returning to complete his college studies in 1946. Sportswriters named him a first-team All-American after the Rice Owls finished with an 8–2 win–loss record and beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

The AAFC's Baltimore Colts signed Humble in 1947, but the Browns acquired him in a trade before the season. Humble became an anchor on Cleveland's offensive line, helping the team win three straight AAFC titles in the late 1940s. When the AAFC dissolved in 1949, Cleveland moved to the NFL and won another championship in 1950. Humble, who remained in the Marine Reserves, was called into service in the Korean War after the season. He was expected to return to Cleveland the following year, but head coach Paul Brown traded him to the Texans before the 1952 season began. He retired after one year in Dallas.