This one might be a little tough to justify, but it wasn't uncommon for players before World War II.
Byron “Whizzer” White was a hot commodity after being a consensus All-American at Colorado, and he was drafted 4th Overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1938. As a rookie, he would lead the NFL in Rushing, but the National Football League was not the only organization that sought his talents. He played there for only one year, deferring his pro career to attend Oxford, but the Rhodes Scholar stayed only one year as he returned to the United States after the outbreak of World War II.
White returned to football and played for the Detroit Lions for two years, where in 1940 he again won the Rushing Title. Like many others, he enlisted in the military when the U.S. joined World War II; he served in the Navy as an officer in Military Intelligence. Although he was more than good enough to play football again after the war, he went into law and politics and became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. A great humanitarian, the Whizzer White Award is given annually to the NFL player for his charity work (though this would be changed to the Alan Page Award)
Despite playing only two seasons in the 1940s, he was chosen for the All-Decade Team, but a spot in Canton is hard to earn when you played only three years in total.
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