A Little Senior History Not Related to the Class of 1968

While many of us are familiar with the story, I'm willing to bet there are several of you unaware of the story of Jay Berwanger, Class of 1932.

The Senior Rams were State and Conference Football champions in 1931.  The fellow in the center of the 2nd picture is Jay, with a photo Wilbur Dazell to his right.  Also notable is a photo of an African-American player, meaning Senior was an integrated team long before the civil rights movement.

So why was Jay Berwanger so important to Senior?  Because Jay Berwanger was the first winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1935 for his outstanding college play at University of Chicago, where he was known as "the one man football team."

In the first ever NFL draft in 1936 Berwanger was drafted as the first choice in the draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.  Because of contract negotiations the Eagles traded their draft choice to George Hallas of the Chicago Bears; but they also could not reach a contractual agreement.  So Berwanger never played professional ball.

The original trophy resides at the University of Chicago.  But each player is given a replica of the statue which Berwanger donated to Dubuque Senior High School, where it resides in a trophy case in the Nora Gymnasium.

Here's a link to Jay's story, followed by the photo of the trophy case at Senior.    Jay Berwanger's Story