Of the UChicago football stars of yesteryear, Jay Berwanger, AB’36 (1914–2002) was the most famous. (University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf2-07577, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
Genius of the gridiron
Eighty years ago, Jay Berwanger, AB’36, won the Heisman Trophy—before it was even called that.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2878","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"786","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]](University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00641, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
Jay Berwanger was a star halfback for the Maroons in the final years of UChicago’s Big Ten football era.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2879","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"609","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]] (University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00642, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
In 1935 Berwanger was awarded the Downtown Athletic Club trophy for “most valuable football player east of the Mississippi.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2883","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"432","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]] (University of Chicago News Office)
The award “wasn't really a big deal when I got it,” Berwanger recalled decades later. It was renamed the Heisman Trophy in 1936.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2881","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"337","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]](University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00650, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
Berwanger (right) was also the first pick in the first-ever NFL draft. But top players at the time were paid just $500 a game. Instead, he opened a manufacturing business, coaching and refereeing football in his spare time.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2882","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"432","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]](University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-03000-057, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
In 1939 UChicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins famously abolished varsity football. As the story goes, Hutchins once quipped, “Whenever I feel the urge to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"2880","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"372","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"500"}}]] (University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00647, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
For decades Berwanger’s aunt used his Heisman trophy as a doorstop. In 1978 he donated it to the University. It’s now displayed in Ratner Athletics Center, where it inspires varsity athletes and fitness-seekers alike.