Nesser brothers
The group consisted of seven brothers who worked for Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, Ohio, and who were later used as the foundation for the Columbus Panhandles of the Ohio League, and later the National Football League, when the club was founded by future NFL president Joe Carr in 1907.
Soon afterwards the German government, which operated and controlled all the railroads, sent him to Metz, where he worked for twelve years as a boilermaker.
After the war, around 1873, Theodore met Katerina Steinbach (born Feb 22, 1854 in Baden, Germany), and the following year the two were married and wasted no time in creating a large family.
John Nesser: Born April 25, 1875, in Triere, Germany and died August 1, 1931, in Columbus, Ohio.
Anna Kathryn Nesser: b. April 17, 1876 in Triere, Germany and died January 11, 1949, in Columbus, Ohio.
John Peter (Pete) Nesser: b. October 22, 1877 in Triere, Germany and died May 29, 1954, in Columbus, Ohio.
However, when the railroad tweaked his design to get around his patent in 1887, Nesser quit and started a plumbing business in Columbus.
The brothers did backbreaking, muscle-straining work for 10 hours a day at the shops of the Panhandle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In 1907, Joe Carr resurrected and reorganized the Columbus Panhandles, a professional football team that recorded its first season in 1901 but disbanded in 1904 due to financial hardships.
That led Carr to build his team around pro football's most famous family, the Nesser brothers.
Carr used the Nesser brothers as the backbone of the Panhandles, and the football-playing family remained in that role for nearly twenty years.
The brothers were written up extensively in out-of-town newspapers, but barely received notice in their hometown of Columbus.
This fact is due to the focus of Columbus fans on the Ohio State University football team.
Ironically the only boy who didn't play football was Pete, the largest of the Nesser brothers, who weighed in at 350 pounds.
He worked as a boilermaker for the Pennsylvania Railroad for a remarkable 57 years, starting in 1890 at age 13, and continuing until his retirement in 1947.
Ted, the first Nesser to make money at football, played for Massillon's state championship team in 1904, 1905 and 1906.
Meanwhile, Fred was a professional boxer who was considered a legitimate contender for the heavyweight title, held by Jess Willard.
Frank was also a star baseball player who never ranked below third in batting in the Ohio State League and the Southern Association during his six years as a pro.
