Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
BERWANGER, Jay
BERWANGER, Jay. (Dubuque, IA- ). First recipient of football's HEISMAN TROPHY. Berwanger, a graduate of DUBUQUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL where he played football under Coach Wilbur DALZELL, received the Heisman Trophy on December 9, 1935. Although the Chicago Maroons of the University of Chicago won only eleven of twenty-four games from 1933 through 1935, Berwanger was chosen for the All-American team his senior year with his amazing statistics including 1,839 yards gained in 439 carries, completing fifty percent of 146 passes for 921 yards, and punting 223 times for a 37.3 yard average. Berwanger could call plays, run, pass, punt, block, tackle, kick off, kick extra points, and return punts and kickoffs. His nicknames included "Genius of the Gridiron," "the One-man Team," "the Flying Dutchman," and "the Man in the Iron Mask" because he wore a special face guard to protect his twice-broken nose. As well as captain of the football team, Berwanger was captain of the track team, senior class president, and head of his fraternity, Psi Upsilon.
In 1936 Berwanger, the first player selected in the first National League draft of college players, went to the Eagles who traded him to the Chicago Bears. Salary disputes with Bears owner, George Halas, prevented Berwanger from ever playing professional football. Berwanger had demanded $25,000 for a two-year contract. He continued his interest in the game by officiating for the Big Ten and coaching the freshman squad at the University of Chicago.
Berwanger was the only Heisman recipient who was ever tackled by a future president of the United States--Gerald Ford-- during a 1934 game between Chicago and Michigan.
In his spare time, Berwanger wrote a sports column for the Chicago Daily News, refereed college football games, and, from 1936 to 1939, coached football at Chicago. Berwanger had a small part, playing himself, in the 1936 football movie The Big Game.
During WORLD WAR II, Berwanger enrolled in the Navy’s flight-training program and became a naval officer. After the war, he established Jay Berwanger, Inc., a manufacturer of plastic and sponge-rubber strips for car doors, trunks and farm machinery, in Downers Grove, Illinois.
In 1954, Berwanger was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. A member of the Alumni Association Board of the University of Chicago, he was awarded an Alumni Service Medal in 1984. Berwanger served as a member of the College Visiting Committee, chair of the President's Fund in 1993, and chair of his 55th and 60th alumni reunion committees. In 1989, he was included on Sports Illustrated’s 25-year anniversary All-America team, which honored players whose accomplishments extended beyond the football field.