Chester Edward Delano Hanulak (March 28, 1933- September 10, 2021) was a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player who won an NFL Championship playing

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for two seasons for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and a National Championship in 1953 with Maryland. He is one of few players to win a state championship at the high school level, a National championship at the college level and an NFL Championship at the professional level. Chethanulakautograph

Hanulak played football at Hackensack High School where he was on the 1949 State Championship football team. He was recruited to play on the

Maryland Terrapins football The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Big Ten Conference. The Terrapins jo ...

team after his high school coach met the Maryland coach while both were attending a summer course. Nicknamed "the Jet", Hanulak played football at Maryland from 1950 to 1954, where he was an All-American and helped the team win the 1953 National Championship (and the 1951 National Championship by some accounts). He played in the team's win in the 1952 Sugar Bowl, when the #3 Terrapins upset the #1

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

. He still remains atop Maryland's all-time rushing list, averaging 8.13 yards a touch over his three seasons. He was also an All-Conference baseball player at Maryland in 1954. He was drafted in the 2nd round of the

1954 NFL draft The 1954 NFL draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners ineligible from the ...

by the Cleveland Browns (24th overall) and helped them to win the 1954 NFL Championship over the Detroit Lions, scoring the final touchdown in the game. He missed the 1955 and 1956 seasons serving in the Air Force, as was common at the time, as a Personnel Officer at

Bolling Air Force Base Bolling Air Force Base or Bolling AFB was a United States Air Force installation located in Washington, D.C. In 2010, it merged with Naval Support Facility Anacostia to form Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. From its establishment, the base has s ...

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. He returned to the Browns for the 1957 seasons helping them to win the Eastern Conference and return to the NFL Championship Game, but this time they lost to the Lions. He retired from football in 1958 and moved to Salisbury, MD to work for General Tire Co. He was a local entrepreneur and philanthropist. He also served as QB/RB coach for the Salisbury University Football Team from 1972 to 1978 and helped them with the 1976 Puerto Rico Bowl. Hanulak was inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and named an ACC Legend in 2012 He died on September 10, 2021.

References

1933 births American football running backs Hackensack High School alumni Maryland Terrapins football players Cleveland Browns players 2021 deaths Players of American football from Hackensack, New Jersey 20th-century American sportsmen {{Runningback-1930s-stub