The Dolly Gray Impostor

The Dolly Gray Imposter was an unknown American football player, who played under the alias of Jack "Dolly" Gray, an end from Princeton University in 1922. He was rumored to be an All-American honoree in 1922, however the only known person named Gray to be awarded consensus All-American honors at Princeton in 1922 was Howard "Howdy" Gray. Under the alias of Gray, the impostor played in the National Football League in 1923 for the St. Louis All-Stars and the Green Bay Packers.

In 1923, the impostor approached Ollie Kraehe, the owner and player-coach of the NFL's St. Louis All-Stars. Kraehe signed him to the All-Stars where the imposter played in three games. After witnessing the poor quality of play in the what he thought was Dolly Gray, an All-American football star at Princeton, Kraehe discovered that he was lied to and that the man claiming to be Dolly Gray was actually an impostor.

However Kraehe decided to pull the deception that had been pulled on him on another team. After a 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians, Kraehe released the impostor to Curly Lambeau and the Green Bay Packers in exchange for cash he desperately needed to keep his team operating. From Lambeau's perspective it appeared that he had gained the best player on the All-Stars roster. Two weeks later, the Packers played the All-Stars at Sportsman's Park. The game ended in a 3-0 Packers victory. However after the game, Curly Lambeau cornered the St. Louis owner and questioned him about Dolly Gray. According to Lambeau, Gray played in just one game with the Packers and had played poorly. Then, after boarding the train for the team's game in St. Louis, he mysteriously disappeared. Kraehe then admitted to Lambeau that the deal between the two clubs regarding Gray, was a joke. He then explained how the con man deceived his way onto the All-Stars roster. Kraehe then thought that he would try to recycle the trick, on Lambeau, in good fun. And Kraehe finally stated that it had always been his intention to give Lambeau back the money he spent on the impostor.