The Mob, Two Cousins and Two Championships

If some guys in dark suits and sunglasses knock on my door, I did not write the following post on my blog. Apparently, somebody has hacked my site and posted this.

In the late 1890s a young couple named Francesco and Maria Accardo from Sicily migrated to Chicago, like so many others from Southern Italy. Francesco was a hard working shoemaker, and he was looking for a better life for himself and his family.

They had 6 children with their second child, Antonio Leonardo Accardo, born in 1906.

Young Tony Accardo wasn’t much for school, so his parents filed a delayed birth record affidavit changing his birth date to 1904. I wasn’t around back then to say for sure, but supposedly, it was common practice in those days and times for people to do that so their kids could start working right away.

Tony dropped out of school at 14 and went to work as a delivery boy and a grocery clerk. Supposedly, these were the only jobs that Tony Accardo ever had.

A couple of years after dropping out of school, Accardo was arrested a few times for petty crimes. After that, he joined a gang called the Circus Cafe Gang, which would eventually lead him to bigger and better things.

The Circus Cafe Gang became allies with the notorious Al Capone. Young Tony Accardo had made it to the big time of organized crime.

Tony Accardo worked his way up to become Al Capone’s personal bodyguard.

Supposedly, Accardo was involved in the Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, though it was never proven.

Supposedly again, Accardo murdered 2 traitors to the Circus Cafe Gang with a baseball bat and earned the nickname ‘Joe Batters’, at least temporarily. Accardo became known as the ‘Big Tuna’ later in his lifetime and that is what he was best known as.

He was also allegedly involved with the assassination of Frankie Yale, a former Capone associate.

Al Capone went to prison in 1931 for tax evasion and an Accardo friend named Paul Ricca took over as Mob Boss. When Ricca retired, Accardo was said to have taken over as the ‘Boss’.

Tony Accardo denied all to his last days and he was one of the only so-called mobsters that died of natural causes when he passed away in 1992. He denied all connections with the mob and lived on an estate in a Chicago suburb and in Palm Springs.

Again, I did not write any of the above if any mob looking fellas show up at my front door. You will also note that there are a lot of words above like ‘supposedly’, ‘allegedly’ and ‘so-called’.

Besides, there is a lot of conflicting information about Accardo and any other alleged Mobsters. Even so, Accardo supposedly was a beer salesman, yet he had estates in the Chicago area and Palm Springs. That sounds legit to me.

 

 

 

In the 1980’s, there was an undersized Defensive End playing at Keene High School in Keene, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire is not exactly a hotbed for high school football talent and Bosa was about 6-4, 215 and playing in the Defensive Line.

Nobody much wanted him on their college football team and the Boston College Eagles were the only big school that offered him a scholarship and so that is where he signed.

Bosa worked hard at Boston College and bulked up to 270 pounds and by his junior season he was starting at the Defensive End spot.

He became something of a terror at Defensive End for the Eagles and other teams actually started scheming to avoid Bosa.

He made All America and many other honors as a senior at Boston College and then was drafted in the first round of the 1987 NFL draft taken with the 16th pick by the Miami Dolphins.

At about the same time and over in the Chicago, Illinois area, there was a high school athlete Named Eric Kumerow. He was a 3 sport star at Oak Park’s River Forest High School. But, it was on the football field that Kumerow’s star status shined the brightest.

He was an All State Quarterback and played Safety on defense. Plus, he was the team’s kicker and punter.

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Eric Kumerow was a first round draft pick in the 1988 NFL draft and was taken in the 1st round by the Miami Dolphins. Like John Bosa, Kumerow was also taken with the 16th pick of the 1st round by the Miami Dolphins.

To tie this story together, Eric Kumerow is the grandson of Chicago Mob Boss ‘the Big Tuna’ Tony Accardo.

Eric Kumerow’s birth father is Palmer Pyle who played in the Offensive Line for the Baltimore Colts, Minnesota Vikings and the Oakland Raiders. His uncle, Mike Pyle was the starting Center back in the days of Mike Ditka at Tight End, Dick Butkus at Linebacker and Gayle Sayers at Running Back.

That’s probably where Eric Kumerow got his 6-7, 250 size from. That, and his grandfather was once Al Capone’s bodyguard so he must have been pretty big and tough.

Bosa and Kumerow both played 3 years for the Dolphins and were gone. Bosa and Kumerow both tried another team which ended poorly for them.

John Bosa met and married Eric Kumerow’s sister and they had Joey Bosa the current All American Defensive End at Ohio State.

Joey Bosa is the great grandson of Tony Accardo and he played high school football at Ft Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas High School and was one of the top recruits in the nation. Joey Bosa was almost the opposite of his father, John Bosa in that everyone in the country wanted him to come to their school and play football. Bosa chose his Mom’s and Uncle’s school, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Bosa started almost immediately for the Ohio State Buckeyes and obviously they just won the national championship.

Eric Kumerow, unlike his brother in law, did not remain in South Florida. He moved back to the Chicago area and he had a son of his own named Jake.

Jake played Wide Receiver at South Elgin High School in Bartlett, Illinois. Only nobody really wanted him out of high school. This situation was exactly the opposite of the Bosa family because Jake Kumorow was lightly recruited.

He walked-on at Illinois and played briefly there as a freshman. But, he transferred to Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Kumerow has a little bit of his father’s size at 6-5, but is a slim 205 pounds. He is also much faster than his father running a 4.5 40 yard dash.

Kumerow caught 135 passes over the last 2 seasons, good for 2,317 yards and 32 Touchdowns. NFL scouts know all about Jake Kumerow, small school or not. I believe he could have been a star if he had chosen to stay at Illinois as well.

The similarities between these two families continues. Just as Joey Bosa and his Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship in 2014 during the first playoff games in the history of the sport, Jake Kumerow’s team also won a national championship.

Wisconsin Whitewater is Division III and that level has had a playoff system in place for years. Whitewater beat another Division III powerhouse, Mount Union for yet another national championship.

There are numerous stories of players from no name schools or small schools making it in the NFL. One of the more famous ones was Leon Lett of the Dallas Cowboys. Lett played at tiny Emporia State. Unfortunately, Leon Lett was a fantastic Defensive Tackle in the NFL, but he will always be more famous for having 2 out of the top 3 of ESPN’s 25 Biggest Sports Blunders.

There are many, many other NFL players that played at smaller schools just like Leon Lett.

As I have already said, the NFL scouts know all about Jake Kumerow. He is a big receiver and the NFL loves big receivers, and he has some speed and some excellent hands.

Joey Bosa and Jake Kumerow are both the great grandson’s of one time Mob Boss Tony Accardo. They are both the sons of former first round draft picks.

Both of them played on National Championship football teams in 2014. One team won the biggest prize when winning the very first ever playoff.

Wisconsin-Whitewater won the Division 3 national championship.

Joey Bosa has at least one more year of college football, but Jake Kumerow is finished. It would be nice to eventually watch both of them in the NFL on Sundays.

It’s kind of a family tradition.

Nothing was ever proven to convict Tony Accardo of any illegal activities, but his descendents have proven to be pretty good football players.

Who is that knocking on my door?

10 thoughts on “The Mob, Two Cousins and Two Championships

    1. Jerry

      They make you an offer you can’t refuse? Hey, good article and a lot of cool info here that I didn’t know. Thanks

      Reply
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