Remembering Irene Cassady and the Nesser Brothers

 LOOKING BACK
by Chris Willis, NFL Films    

Irene Cassady, 2005 interview

Today PFJ looks back at the life of Irene Cassady. Last month on September 22^nd Cassady passed away peacefully at her home in Columbus, Ohio. She was 88 years old.

Cassady has a unique football lineage. She was the daughter of John Schneider and Rose Nesser. Her mother Rose was a sibling of the famous Nesser brothers – Ted, Phil, John, Fred, Frank, and Al – who played for two decades with the Columbus Panhandles. But her father, John Schneider, married into the Nesser family. Just like the Nessers he also played for the Panhandles.

1915 Columbus Panhandles Team Photo. John Schneider, back row in middle

I was fortunate enough to interview Cassady twice, once in 2002 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where the Nessers held their annual family reunion, and then again in 2005 at her home in Columbus. Every time I interviewed or talked to Irene Cassady I would earn something new about the Columbus Panhandles or the Nesser family. She was a talking encyclopedia for the family’s and football history. She knew everything. It was impressive. Hearing that she passed left me sad but content that she lived a full life.

Her father, John Schneider, worked in the Panhandle shops with the Nessers, working as a blacksmith, and he was equally tough as the family he married into. In the end he would work for the railroad for fifty years (1904-1954). Schneider stood five feet ten and weighed a solid 190-pounds. He lined up mostly on the front line at center, guard and tackle. He also would play in the backfield if needed.

Schneider played 8 seasons with the Panhandles, 1909-1915 and one year in the APFA (1920). He earned the nickname “Pop.” It was a football game that the two met. “Rose Nesser very often would drive her brothers to the game in the family’s horse-drawn cart. Because the field [Recreation Park] was about five to six miles away, she would stay and watch the game, then drive them home,” said Irene Cassady in 2002. “Well one time she drove the boys to the game and she met my father, John Schneider, who was playing on the team. My father said that once she stepped down off that wagon, he lost his heart, and the same with her.”

1912 wedding of Rose Nesser (on right) and John Schneider (sitting) 
Courtesy from Nesser Family

But asking to marry Rose was a difficult task for the tough-minded blacksmith. He would have to confront the Nesser brothers. “My grandfather took a shine to my dad, he really liked him,” recalled Cassady. “My dad was a very likable guy and he knew he’d have no problem at all asking my grandparents if he could marry their daughter. But he said the thing that just made him shake in his boots was having to ask the brothers, that scared him.”

Irene Cassady at Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2002, Nesser Family Reunion

Those were just a few quotes of Irene’s that I heard when interviewing her. She was a pleasure to talk to and she made my research for my book on the Columbus Panhandles better. I will miss our conversations.

Irene Cassady, 2002 interview at Pro Football Hall of Fame