sville Maroons for five years, is best remembered for his
great leg drive which was considered the best in profess-
ional football in the 1920's.
Latone was born in Marquette, Illinois, of Lithuanian and
Italian parentage. His elementary education was cut short
in 1910 when his father died, leaving behind a family of eight.
Tony was only 11 at the time, but with a mother and five
sisters to support he and his older brother had to go to work
in the mines. At the time, a boy was supposed to be 14 before
he could enter the mines, but Tony told a "little lie" about his
age and became initiated with the duties of a coal miner.
Tony enlisted in the Navy during World War I, and it was
not until after that war was over that he went back to work
again in the mines and then turned his attention to football.
In 1922 he became a member of the Wilkes-Barre Panthers,
playing two years for that club before joining the Pottsville
Maroons. The Maroons grabbed Tony after he had humil-
iated them as a member of the Panthers.
Although Pottsville won over Wilkes-Barre by a com-
fortable margin, Latone went through the Maroon line
harder than any plunger ever had done before or did afterward.
One tackle expressed by saying, "Something knocked me
down and ran over me. I learned afterward it was Latone."
On the basis of that showing, which was about in mid-season,
he was taken on by the Pottsville club.
Latone was one of the non-college men of the Maroons,
this coal miner was rated as the strongest fullback in the
NFL during 1925. He smashed out huge yardage gains, often
carrying defenders on his back.
For the remainder of the 1924 season and the four years
of the Maroons National League regime- from 1925 to 1928,
inclusive- he continued to tear opposing lines apart. On
several occasions he carried the ball right down the field for
touchdowns.
One of the highlights of his career occurred in this first
Pro-vs-College game against Notre Dame's famed "Four
Horsemen and Seven Mules". Latone's 139 yards accounted
for 75% of the Maroons total yardage.
