Arthur Hunter (April 24, 1933 – December 25, 2009) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL), mainly for the
Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...
.
Notre Dame years
At Notre Dame he played under head coach
Frank Leahy
Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908 – June 21, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1939 to 1940 and at ...
who was the former line coach for the
Seven Blocks of Granite The Seven Blocks of Granite were the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The individuals identified among the Seven Blocks of Granite were Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze ...
and played shoulder-to-shoulder with guard Menil Mavraides, center
Jim Schrader
James Lee Schrader (June 27, 1932 – January 16, 1972) was an American football center and tackle in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1954 to 1964.
Schrader attended and played coll ...
, and fullback Neil Worden as the main blockers for
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winning running back
Johnny Lattner
John Joseph Lattner (October 24, 1932 – February 12, 2016) was an American football player. While playing college football for the University of Notre Dame, he won the Heisman Trophy in 1953. He also won the Maxwell Award twice, in 1952 and ...
.
His senior year, the 1953 Notre Dame team finished the season 9–1, and had an unprecedented 12 players drafted to 1954 NFL draft.
In a September 13, 1954
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
article, writer
Herman Hickman
Herman Michael Hickman (October 1, 1911 – April 25, 1958) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at the University of Tennessee and professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Brooklyn Dodgers. ...
describes the 1953 Notre Dame team by writing:
Frankly, it's hard to see how any squad could lose such men as Halfback Johnny Lattner, Fullback Neil Worden, Tackle Art Hunter, Center Jim Schrader and Guard Menil Mavraides and still be a top-ranked team. Each was on some All-American or other. Lattner, Worden and Hunter were first-round Pro draft choices. Schrader was a second-round choice. Mavraides a third. But Notre Dame is not an ordinary football team, it's Notre Dame. . . . Notre Dame doesn't lose too often.
NFL career
Listed at 6' 4" and 245 lbs, Hunter first played for the
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...
as their number one draft choice (Number 3 overall). After not playing the 1955 season, Arthur, then went on to play under head coach
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...
, with
Jim Brown
James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...
and the rest of the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
for four seasons as Center. He then played Center for five years with the slumping
Rams
In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Steelers. Over Hunter's twelve seasons with the NFL he recovered four fumbles. In 1960, he was an AP second-team All-NFL selection.