Former NFL All-Pro, Palm Desert resident Gern Nagler dies at 88
He was not on the list.
Long-time Palm Desert resident and former NFL All-Pro receiver Gern Nagler passed away April 9 at his home in the desert. He was 88.
A star at the University of Santa Clara, Nagler played for the old Chicago Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. With the Cardinals in 1953, he set a team rookie record with 43 receptions.
Nagler missed the 1954 NFL season due to military service. While posted at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Nagler helped coach the base football team to a perfect 12-0 record and the All-Service Championship, winning the 1954 Poinsettia Bowl.
He returned to the Cardinals in 1955, spending the next four seasons with the club. Nagler earned a Pro Bowl selection in 1958.
Following his Pro Bowl year, Nagler was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers and spent one season with the team. He was moved to the Cleveland Browns as part of a four-player New Year's Eve trade that included Steelers quarterback Len Dawson. Nagler finished his playing career after the 1961 NFL season, after two seasons with the Browns
In 1958, he was named All-Pro and selected to the Pro Bowl. For his career he caught 196 passes for 28 touchdowns.
He is also credited with being one of the players who went to the league requesting a pension plan, which eventually came about. Nagler and Cleveland Browns end Billy Howton presented NFL Commissioner Bert Bell with a draft antitrust lawsuit, threatening to file if the NFL did not immediately establish a pension for its players. The gambit worked, and the pension was formally established three years later.
An avid fisherman and accomplished painter, Gern was a driving force in the NFL Alumni Association in Palm Desert.
Nagler is survived by his wife Jan and a large, loving family.
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