Tom Colella
Thomas Anthony Colella
Born: July 3, 1918
Albion, NY USA
Deceased: May 15, 1992
Buffalo, NY
Position: HB-TB
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 187
College: Canisius
High School: Charles D'Amico (Albion, NY)
Career: 1942-1949
Drafted: 1942 in Round 7, #55 overall by the Detroit Lions
Tom Colella played from 1942 to 1949 during his career with the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Rams and Detroit Lions. Colella ran for 753 yards in his career on 199 attempts, scoring 8 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 18 passes for 215 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns..
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Year | Team | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 41 | 18 | 43.9 | 178 | 4.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 4 | 9.8 | 23 | 17.2 |
| 1943 | NFL Detroit Lions | 31 | 11 | 35.5 | 103 | 3.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 4 | 12.9 | 21 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 75 | 27 | 36.0 | 336 | 4.5 | 4 | 5.3 | 10 | 13.3 | 25 | 28.9 |
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| NFL | 148 | 56 | 37.8 | 617 | 4.2 | 4 | 2.7 | 18 | 12.2 | 25 | ||
| Totals | 148 | 56 | 37.8 | 617 | 4.2 | 4 | 2.7 | 18 | 12.2 | 25 |
Rushing:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 23 | 51 | 2.2 | 34 | 0 |
| 1943 | NFL Detroit Lions | 15 | 24 | 1.6 | 18 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 53 | 208 | 3.9 | 75 | 2 |
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 46 | 224 | 4.9 | 30 | 2 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 30 | 118 | 3.9 | 50 | 2 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 11 | 77 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 14 | 60 | 4.3 | 0 | 1 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 7 | -9 | -1.3 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 137 | 507 | 3.7 | 75 | 4 | |
| AAFC | 62 | 246 | 4.0 | 50 | 4 | |
| Totals | 199 | 753 | 3.8 | 75 | 8 |
Receiving:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | NFL Detroit Lions | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 2 | 64 | 32.0 | 54 | 1 |
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 7 | 64 | 9.1 | 20 | 2 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 1 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 4 | 63 | 15.8 | 18 | 1 |
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 10 | 127 | 12.7 | 54 | 3 | |
| AAFC | 8 | 88 | 11.0 | 18 | 2 | |
| Totals | 18 | 215 | 11.9 | 54 | 5 |
Kicking:
| Year | Team | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 3 | |||
| NFL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 3 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 3 |
Punting:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 16 | 609 | 38.1 | 63 |
| 1943 | NFL Detroit Lions | 7 | 315 | 45.0 | 55 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 33 | 1247 | 37.8 | 63 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 47 | 1895 | 40.3 | 0 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 36 | 36.0 | 36 |
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 49 | 1716 | 35.0 | 0 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 44 | 1554 | 35.3 | 0 |
| NFL | 56 | 2171 | 38.8 | 63 | |
| AAFC | 141 | 5201 | 36.9 | 36 | |
| Totals | 197 | 7372 | 37.4 | 63 |
Punt Returns:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 10 | 0 |
| 1943 | NFL Detroit Lions | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 7 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 4 | 65 | 16.2 | 29 | 0 |
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 8 | 172 | 21.5 | 0 | 0 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 5 | 113 | 22.6 | 82 | 1 |
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 5 | 60 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 5 | 42 | 8.4 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 9 | 100 | 11.1 | 29 | 0 | |
| AAFC | 23 | 387 | 16.8 | 82 | 1 | |
| Totals | 32 | 487 | 15.2 | 82 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 4 | 74 | 18.5 | 25 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 10 | 241 | 24.1 | 41 | 0 |
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 3 | 79 | 26.3 | 30 | 0 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 29 | 0 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 7 | 107 | 15.3 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 17 | 394 | 23.2 | 41 | 0 | |
| AAFC | 9 | 149 | 16.6 | 29 | 0 | |
| Totals | 26 | 543 | 20.9 | 41 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL Detroit Lions | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 4 | 53 | 13.2 | 19 | 0 |
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 10 | 110 | 11.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 6 | 130 | 21.7 | 0 | 1 |
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1949 | AAFC Buffalo Bills | 3 | 49 | 16.3 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 5 | 63 | 12.6 | 19 | 0 | |
| AAFC | 21 | 323 | 15.4 | 0 | 1 | |
| Totals | 26 | 386 | 14.8 | 19 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| 1944 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | ||||
| 1945 | NFL Cleveland Rams | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||||||
| 1946 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||
| 1947 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||||
| 1948 | AAFC Cleveland Browns | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||
| NFL | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | |
| AAFC | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | |
| Totals | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 93 | |
Playing Career:
| Year | League | Team | GP | GS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | NFL | Detroit Lions | 9 | 2 |
| 1943 | NFL | Detroit Lions | 8 | 0 |
| 1944 | NFL | Cleveland Rams | 10 | 8 |
| 1945 | NFL | Cleveland Rams | 10 | 1 |
| 1946 | AAFC | Cleveland Browns | 14 | 2 |
| 1947 | AAFC | Cleveland Browns | 14 | 7 |
| 1948 | AAFC | Cleveland Browns | 13 | 2 |
| 1949 | AAFC | Buffalo Bills | 11 | 0 |
