University of Chicago’s John Jacob “Jay” Berwanger was named the best college football player 90 years ago.
He’s officially known as the first Heisman Memorial Trophy recipient, although the honor wasn’t called that until a year later. The trophy was named for club athletic director John W. Heisman after he died in 1936. Berwanger traveled to New York to accept “a special trophy at a luncheon,” the Tribune reported.
Berwanger, an Iowa native, was often dubbed the “one-man football team” for his ability to play offense, defense and special teams for the Maroons (the University of Chicago abandoned the sport just four seasons after Berwanger departed).
The two-time All-American, however, despised the title. “Football is a team game, calling for eleven players, and regardless of whether or not one man does stand out, he is physically incapable of doing so alone, without the help of his teammates,” Berwanger told the Tribune.
The multidiscipline athlete chose U. of C. for its academics first, then football and track second. Though he also considered Northwestern, his hometown ties convinced him to become a Maroon.
“His father has been for years a blacksmith in the shipbuilding yards at Dubuque owned by Ira Davenport, one of the greats of Maroon track history,” Charles Bartlett wrote in the Tribune in 1933. “Jay also had worked for Davenport during the summer, and since he is a good student, with a desire to enter a good medical school, it was decided to send him here.”
Though Berwanger initially considered becoming a doctor or lawyer, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business. Finances are what might have convinced the man with a blue-collar background to choose a career in sales over suiting up in the NFL. Professional football players back then earned less than a couple of hundred bucks per game (or about $3,000 in today’s dollars), according to the NFL.
“There was no money in pro football back then, and very little future,” Berwanger said in 1997. “Remember, it was the Great Depression. I was offered a deal by the (Philadelphia) Eagles where I’d get $125 to $150 a game. I thought I’d have a better future by using my education, rather than my football skills.”
Though Berwanger’s iconic stiff-armed statue was once used as a doorstop by his Aunt Gussie, today it’s housed inside the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center on the university’s Chicago campus.
Here’s a look back at Berwanger’s phenomenal collegiate career and his decision to forgo the NFL — despite being the league’s first-ever draft pick.
1932-33
Berwanger arrived at the University of Chicago during famed coach Alonzo Amos Stagg’s final year of leading the Maroons, who were known as the original “Monsters of the Midway.”
After a year on the freshman team, No. 99 played every minute of every Big Ten Conference game on the Maroons’ schedule for Clark Shaughnessy, who was Stagg’s successor. In a 32-0 win against Cornell on Oct. 7, 1933, Berwanger scored four of the team’s five touchdowns. U. of C., however, finished the 1933 season with a 3-3-2 record.
Berwanger was named the team’s most valuable player and was the second sophomore to be a finalist for the Tribune’s Silver Football award. He placed third.
The popular halfback became a member of Psi Upsilon — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens later pledged the same fraternity — and competed in track during the spring.
1934
Berwanger returned to the gridiron after he was presented the William Scott Bond Award for most points at the Big Ten outdoor track meet and spent his summer working as a camp counselor.
“The Dubuque iron man who was a sensation last year even with mediocre support and the confusion of performing on ‘the team of a million plays,’ is in fine shape,” the Tribune’s Edward Burns wrote. “It is said he is running even more spectacularly than he did last year, that he is passing marvelously well and that his kicking is good despite the fact that everyone he meets tries to teach him something new about kicking.”
In a 28-0 rout of Big Ten champion Michigan on Oct. 13, 1934, Berwanger scored two touchdowns. He also earned the distinction of being the only future Heisman winner tackled by a future president: Gerald Ford.
“He has said he has a scar on his cheek from trying to tackle me,” Berwanger said of Ford in the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune in 1974. “I don’t know if that’s true. He may tell that to everybody, but he remembers the games I remember playing against him.”
Berwanger — called “the nucleus of the Chicago team on both offense and defense” by the Tribune — was forced to miss his first collegiate game (a 33-0 loss to Ohio State) due to a knee injury. Though the Maroons finished 4-4 that season, Berwanger carried the ball 137 times for 595 yards or 4.3 yards per try; punted 77 times for an average of 39.3 yards per kick; threw 45 passes for a total of 297 yards; returned 13 kickoffs for 347 yards; and scored eight touchdowns and 8 points after touchdowns for a total of 56 points. The 19-year-old was voted Big Ten outstanding athlete in a poll conducted by The Associated Press and was named team captain for the 1935 season.
Oct. 12, 1935
“Berwanger still is Berwanger,” Tribune reporter Charles Bartlett wrote.
In a 31-6 romp of Western Michigan (then known as Western State Teachers College), 39 of 45 Maroons took the field. But the team’s captain stood out, scoring a touchdown and throwing for two more. The NCAA assembled a game-by-game review of Berwanger’s senior season.
Oct. 26, 1935
U. of C. beat Wisconsin for the first time since 1927 — thanks especially to their “one-man football team” who scored all of the Maroons’ 13 points. One of Berwanger’s most memorable runs of the entire season came on a 78-yard return of a Wisconsin kickoff.
Nov. 9, 1935
Though overmatched, Chicago nearly upset Ohio State behind Berwanger’s efforts. His 85-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Maroons up 13-0.
“But that crazy, startling sprint took something out of the youngster,” the Tribune’s Irving Vaughan wrote. “He wasn’t much good thereafter, although he remained to complete the full sixty minutes of battling.”
Berwanger’s shoulder was also injured in the loss.
Nov. 23, 1935
Berwanger was carried out of Memorial Stadium — his final collegiate appearance — after Chicago beat Illinois 7-6.
Late in the third quarter, Berwanger received a punt and “shook off five Illinois tacklers along the route of a 49-yard run to Illinois’ one-yard line,” Tribune reporter Harvey Woodruff wrote. “Then Berwanger, who also calls the signals … vaulted high over the crouching, tangled combatants and rolled into the end zone for the tying touchdown.”
Berwanger then kicked the extra point that sealed the Maroons’ victory — and gave his team its best standing in the Big Ten since 1927.
The Maroons captain — who was named the team’s MVP — carried the ball 119 times during the 1935 season for 577 yards gained. Berwanger threw 67 passes — with 25 completed — for 405 yards. He also had four interceptions, five kickoffs and 60 punts for an average of 37 yards. Berwanger scored 41 total points, which included six touchdowns and 5 PATs, during his final season.
“It always will be my greatest satisfaction to know that in the classrooms of the university and on Stagg field I was able to realize my original goal of an education, together with the fullest enjoyment of my favorite sport,” Berwanger later told the Tribune.
“There couldn’t be a happier combination for a young man who does not intend to devote his entire life to athletics, and who wishes to be fully equipped for whatever opportunities other fields may offer him.”
Dec. 11, 1935
Berwanger was presented with the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in New York. At the time, all college football players east of the Mississippi River were eligible. Berwanger received 84 votes. Charles “Monk” Meyer of Army placed second, with Bill Shakespeare of Notre Dame third.
“They treated us royally,” Berwanger said. “It was a very nice lunch, and we saw the Rockettes, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty.”
Dec. 22, 1935
The accolades continued to roll in for Berwanger, who was the 12th recipient of the Tribune’s Silver Football.
Berwanger’s vote total was the highest in the young history of the award.
Feb. 8, 1936
Berwanger became the No. 1 pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first-ever NFL draft that was held at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton.
The next day, the Chicago Bears obtained the right to sign Berwanger — if he decided to go pro. According to the AP, the Eagles feared they couldn’t meet Berwanger’s reported demand of $1,000 per game (or about $24,000 in today’s dollars). Berwanger disputed a report he had already signed with the Bears.
Berwanger later told the Tribune he and Bears owner/coach George Halas met once — when Berwanger was on a date.
“I told George Halas the one time I saw him — it wasn’t a formal meeting or anything — that I wanted $12,500 (a year) for two years with a no-cut contract,” Berwanger said. “He just wished my date and me a bon farewell.”
According to the NFL, only 24 of the 81 players drafted signed NFL contracts.
May 21, 1936
After competing in decathlon events with hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team, Berwanger revealed he had accepted a job with a then-unnamed industrial company (Featheredge Rubber) in Chicago. That decision effectively ended any attempt for him to play professional football.
“You might as well begin forgetting about me,” Berwanger told the Tribune.
Berwanger, who was class president, accepted his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Chicago in June 1936, and suited up for one more gridiron game when the College All-Stars tied the Detroit Lions 7-7 on Sept. 2, 1936, at Soldier Field.
In addition to his work, Berwanger wrote a sports column for the Chicago Daily News and coached the University of Chicago freshmen football team. He became a Navy flight instructor in 1942, and was due to go overseas in 1945 when World War II ended. After the war, he started Jay Berwanger Inc. on Chicago’s South Side. He also served as a Big Ten football referee until 1953, including working the 1949 Rose Bowl between Northwestern and California.
Berwanger died in 2002.
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