Jay Berwanger won what would later become the Heisman Trophy as a back for the University of Chicago, but despite being the first player ever draft by an NFL team, he didn't play pro ball.

Instead, Berwanger, who was called a "one-man football team" because he could do just about everything, took up rugby. While he retained his amateur status to try to make the 1936 Olympic team as a decathlete, he also played rugby and was a central figure in the resurgence of rugby in the East and Midwest. While he took up a job at a rubber company and started coaching at Chicago, Berwanger also led a Chicago rugby team on a winning streak all over the country.

The 1939 clash between Berwanger and 1936 Heisman winner Larry Kelley in a de-facto national rugby club championship—Chicago vs New York—made national news. Berwanger may not have played rugby for long, as World War II saw him become a Navy flight instructor, but he was definitely the stuff of legend.

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