John Jacob "Jay" Berwanger (March 19, 1914 – June 26, 2002) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and referee. In 1935, Berwanger was the first recipient of the

Downtown Athletic Club The Downtown Athletic Club, also known as the Downtown Club, was a private social and athletic club that operated from 1926 to 2002 at 20 West Street, within the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The Downtown Athletic Cl ...

Trophy, renamed the

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 ...

the following year. At its inception, the award was given to "the most valuable player east of the Mississippi." In 1936, Berwanger became the first player drafted into the

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 ...

in its inaugural 1936 NFL Draft, although he did not play professionally due to a salary dispute.

College career

In a 1934 game against the Michigan Wolverines, Berwanger left his mark on Michigan

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

in the form of a distinctive scar beneath the future

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

's left eye. In 1935, Berwanger became the first recipient of the

Trophy, renamed the

the following year. John Heisman was then the club's athletic director, and after Heisman's death in October 1936 the trophy was expanded to become a national honor and named the Heisman Trophy. Berwanger was a star halfback for the

Chicago Maroons football The Chicago Maroons football team represents the University of Chicago in college football. The Maroons, which play in NCAA Division III, have been a football-only member of the Midwest Conference since 2017. The University of Chicago was a foun ...

team of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he was known as the "one man football team".He was also awarded the ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football as the most valuable player in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and earned unanimous

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors. Berwanger also competed in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

for Chicago, setting a school

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

record in 1936 that stood until 2007. In college, he was also a brother of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

Heisman Season Highlights

During the 1935 campaign, when he won what was to become the

), he rushed for 577 yards, passed for 405, returned kickoffs for 359, scored six touchdowns, and added five PATs for 41 points. His

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

was 4-4 with a 2-3 mark in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

that season.

Heisman Voting

Berwanger received 84 votes, finishing ahead of

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

's Monk Meyer, Notre Dame's

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, and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

Pepper Constable William Pepper Constable Jr. (24 April 1914 – 13 August 1986) was an American football back. Constable was born on April 24, 1914, in Baltimore. His father was a Maryland lawyer. He attended high school at Gilman School before playing college ...

. He won 43% of the eligible votes cast.

After college

In 1936, Berwanger was the first player ever drafted into the

in its inaugural 1936 NFL draft. The

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

selected him, but did not think they would be able to meet his reported salary demands of $1,000 per game. They traded his negotiating rights to the Chicago Bears for tackle Art Buss. Berwanger initially chose not to sign with the Bears in part to preserve his amateur status so that he could compete for a spot on the U.S. team for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

in the decathlon. After he missed the Olympics cut, Berwanger and Bears' owner

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

were unable to reach an agreement on salary; Berwanger was requesting $15,000 and Halas' final offer was $13,500. Instead, he took a job with a Chicago rubber company and also became a part-time coach at the University of Chicago. Berwanger later expressed regret that he did not accept Halas' offer.

Later life and honors

After graduating, Berwanger worked briefly as a

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and later became a manufacturer of plastic car parts. He was very modest about the Heisman Trophy; unsure what to do with the trophy, he left it with his aunt Gussie, who used it as a doorstop. The trophy was later bequeathed to the University of Chicago Athletic Hall of Fame, where it is on display. There is also a replica of the Heisman on display in the trophy case in the Nora Gymnasium at Dubuque Senior High School. He is a member of both the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame and Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. Berwanger died after a lengthy battle with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

at his home in

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...

, on June 26, 2002, at the age of 88. Berwanger was of German descent.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berwanger, Jay 1914 births 2002 deaths American football halfbacks Chicago Maroons football players Philadelphia Eagles All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Heisman Trophy winners National Football League first-overall draft picks Sportspeople from Dubuque, Iowa People from Oak Brook, Illinois Players of American football from Iowa American people of German descent Deaths from lung cancer in Illinois Psi Upsilon