Alan Ameche was the Heisman Trophy winner in 1954, and the Wisconsin Badgers star promptly went 3^rd Overall in the Draft.   Chosen by the Baltimore Colts, he would win the NFL Rookie of the Year, leading the league in Rushing Yards, Rushing Touchdowns, and Yards from Scrimmage.  This was Ameche's best statistical year, but he would become an offensive fixture on an excellent Colts team that would win the NFL Championship in 1958 and 1959.  It was in the former title that Ameche cemented his legacy as in that game (which has been dubbed “The Greatest Game Ever Played”) as the Running Back scored two Touchdowns, including the game-winning one that would beat the New York Giants.  That alone makes Alan Ameche an iconic figure in Pro football lore.

Playing his college ball at the University of North Texas, Abner Haynes elected to stay in his home state, and he would sign with the Dallas Texans of the AFL as opposed to the Pittsburgh Steelers who chose him in the 5^th Round in 1960.  Haynes was the first breakout star of the new league winning their inaugural Rushing Title while being named the AP and UPI MVP.  Haynes, who would also lead the league in Rushing Touchdowns, would do so again in the next two seasons and would accrue over 1,700 All-Purpose Yards in all of his first three seasons, the last of which was an AFL Championship.

Cookie Gilchrist had a bizarre road to the pro football in the United States, and dare we say had he never crossed the path of Paul Brown, the owner of the Cleveland Browns, and he could have been a household name in the 1960s.

Riley Matheson arrived in Cleveland with little (really no) fanfare to join the Rams in 1939 after going undrafted from Texas-El Paso.  Playing at both Offensive Lineman, Matheson broke out in 1942, earning his first First Team All-Pro, while also capturing that honor in 1944 and 1945.  Granted, this happened during World War II, where the league was depleted during World War II, but the NFL Champion in ’45 was out to prove he was there to stay.