Gonzaga Athletic Hall of Fame
Tagged with an ironic nickname, Ivan “Tiny” Cahoon was by no means small, except by modern era football standards. His playing weight was listed variously at 218 to 240 pounds. Cahoon, who came to Gonzaga from Barbaoo, Wisc., played tackle on the great teams of the early 1920s with the likes of Houston Stockton and Mel Ingram. He played four seasons, (1926-1929) for the Green Bay Packers and Curley Lambeau, a National Football League pioneer who coached the Packers to their first league title in 1929. His teammates included tackles Marion Ashmore and Hector Cyre, both Gonzaga alums, and pro Hall of Famers Cal Hubbard and Johnny Blood (McNally). Pro rosters were limited in those days and Cahoon recalled in a 1950s interview playing 60 minutes of two-way tackle in 18 straight exhibition and league games in one season with the Packers. Cahoon later coached high school teams in Wisconsin and then the Milwaukee Chiefs in the American Football League before deciding to make the U.S. Army a career.
