--- description: Portraits of NFL players in 1938 -- an era when professional football barely registered on most American sports fans' radar. title: Tough Guys: Portraits of NFL Players in 1938 by Carl Mydans image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte122c37569e88725/69884afbe53aba21714dd243/131216-nfl-sammy-baugh-helmet-1938.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tough Guys: Faces of the NFL, 1938 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2014 12:23 AM CUT  Pro Football Hall of Fame charter member "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh of the Washington Redskins, 1938. Pro Football Hall of Fame charter member "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh of the Washington Redskins, 1938.Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2014 12:23 AM CUT In the fall of 1938, in the midst of the Great Depression, LIFE magazine published a feature on professional football titled, “Beefy Bruisers Make It Rival College Game.” In those years, the biggest sports in the land were baseball, boxing, horse racing and college football; the National Football League barely registered on most sports fans’ radar. But it was making strides, and LIFE noticed. In that October ’38 article, for instance, the magazine told its readers that, “because it is tough and sensational, professional football draws increasing thousands of spectators away from college games.” --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- Fifteen thousand bucks might not sound like much compared to the salaries paid to today’s NFL players, but it was roughly ten times the average American salary in 1938, when unemployment was pushing 20 percent. Few of the names or faces of the guys in this gallery are famous today—but even back then, when pro football was almost an afterthought among sports fans, the players were well-paid and, in their own way, they were stars. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Pro Football Hall of Fame charter member "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh of the Washington Redskins, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Washington Redskins running back Dick Tuckey, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Redskins offensive lineman Les "Swede" Olsson, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Redskins lineman Ed Kahn, a native New Yorker, joined the Marines after his pro career ended and saw action in World War II; he was killed in the Pacific in 1945\. He was 33 when he died. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Pro Football Hall of Famer Turk Edwards, Washington Redskins, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Redskins offensive lineman Henry "Red" Krause sweating in the hot sun during practice, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  College Football Hall of Famer Ernie Pinckert, Washington Redskins, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  The great Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins, 1938. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880907/tough-guys-faces-of-the-nfl-1938/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880907/tough-guys-faces-of-the-nfl-1938/"},"headline":"Tough Guys: Faces of the NFL, 1938","datePublished":"2014-09-16T00:23:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:36.908Z","description":"Portraits of pro football players in 1938, when the biggest sports in the U.S. were baseball, boxing and horse racing and the NFL barely registered on most fans' radar.","url":"https://time.com/3880907/tough-guys-faces-of-the-nfl-1938/","keywords":["Sports topic","Football","NFL","photography","Washington D.C.","1938","Carl Mydans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte122c37569e88725/69884afbe53aba21714dd243/131216-nfl-sammy-baugh-helmet-1938.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte122c37569e88725/69884afbe53aba21714dd243/131216-nfl-sammy-baugh-helmet-1938.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sammy Baugh, 1938","caption":"Pro Football Hall of Fame charter member \"Slingin' Sammy\" Baugh of the Washington Redskins, 1938.","creditText":"Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880907/tough-guys-faces-of-the-nfl-1938/","name":"Tough Guys: Faces of the NFL, 1938"}}]}] ```