Jimmy Jemail
Born(1893-09-12)September 12, 1893
Byblos, Ottoman Empire
DiedJuly 26, 1978(1978-07-26) (aged 84)
New York, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationWriter-photographer
Years active1921–1973
American football career
Personal information
Height:5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight:165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High school:Rogers
(Newport, Rhode Island)
College:Brown, Navy
Position:Quarterback, halfback
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Games started:1
Games played:1
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

Manuel James Jemail (September 12, 1893 – July 26, 1978) was a writer-photographer for The Daily News, a veteran of the United States Navy, and an American football player.[1]

Life

Born in Byblos, Lebanon,[2] Jemail moved with his family to Newport, Rhode Island, when he was five years old.[3][4]

He was the first American of Lebanese decent to be accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy, where he played football. After being sidelined by an injury his first year, he transferred to Brown University where he started as a quarterback and halfback and played in the 1916 Rose Bowl.[3]

He played for the New York Brickley Giants in 1921.[5] He is distinguished as being the first Lebanese to play in the National Football League (NFL).[6]

Jemail served in World War I. After leaving the Navy, he found work as a security guard for The Daily News. He was made inquiring photographer just thirty minutes after being hired as a security guard, when the paper's editor "decided that any former Navy officer and Ivy League football player who would take an $8 a week job should also make a hard-nosed newsman".

Jemail started working for Sports Illustrated when it was founded in 1954. He had a weekly full page feature titled Jimmy Jemail's Hotbox where he would ask a sports question to people from both inside and outside the sporting world.[7]

Jemail worked for The Daily News as a writer-photographer for 52 years and would interview "presidents, premiers, royalty, the rich, the famous, the ordinary and the bums".[3][8] In 1962, he met President John F. Kennedy who told him "I've followed your column for years."[9] President Richard Nixon called Jemail's column one of the most widely read in New York City.[3] Jemail retired from The Daily News in 1973.[2]

He died of cancer in Lenox Hill Hospital on July 26, 1978.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Jimmy Jemail ends career on newspaper". Newport Mercury. 19 January 1973. p. 5. Retrieved 9 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  2. 1 2 "Jimmy Jemail of News Retires as Questioner". The New York Times. 1973-01-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Collins, Thomas (1978-07-27). "Jimmy Jemail Dies at 85–He Knew All the Questions". Daily News. p. 117. Retrieved 2023-09-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Philip Kae (8 October 1953). "Sketches". Caravan. p. 7. Retrieved 9 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  5. ↑ "Brooklyn Giants Pro Football Team To Play". The Brooklyn Standard Union. 1921-11-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-09-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "List of all NFL Players Born in Lebanon". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  7. ↑ Greene, Bob (1986-08-29). "Baseball unions? Not in the '50s". The Jackson Sun. p. 21. Retrieved 2023-09-26 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 "Jimmy Jemail for a Half-Century 'Inquiring Fotographer' at News". The New York Times. 1978-07-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  9. ↑ "Jimmy Jemail, 85, Original 'Inquiring Fotographer' for News". Newsday (Suffolk Edition). 1978-07-28. p. 43. Retrieved 2023-09-09 – via Newspapers.com.
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