Gilbert Thomas "Birtie" Maher (December 16, 1892December 3, 1980) was an American football player.
Maher was born in 1892 to Irish immigrant parents in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit.Pro-Football-Reference.com reports a place of birth in County Mayoin Ireland. This assertion is contrary to multiple other sources reporting Detroit as Maher's place of birth. Sources reflecting Detroit as the birth place include an obituary The Detroit News, a 1900 U.S. Census record for 1900, a World War I draft registration card, and a World War II draft registration card available on Ancestry.com. He played college football for the University of Detroit as its star halfback in 1913, and for the Detroit Heralds starting in 1911. When the Heralds joined the new National Football League (NFL) in 1920, Maher was a member of Detroit's first NFL team.
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