10 Facts About Billy Vessels

Billy Dale Vessels was a gridiron football player.

Billy Vessels played college football at the University of Oklahoma and won the Heisman Trophy in 1952.

Billy Vessels led the Oklahoma Sooners to the national championship in 1950, scoring 15 touchdowns.

Billy Vessels was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Oklahoma, along with being a member of the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Billy Vessels was the first pick of the Baltimore Colts in the first round of the 1953 NFL Draft, but did not join the Colts following the draft, electing instead to play with the Edmonton Eskimos of the then Western Interprovincial Football Union.

Billy Vessels caught 20 passes for 310 yards and with one touchdown.

Billy Vessels passed 393 yards on 30 attempts with 18 completions and 4 touchdown passes to having thrown only one interception and while on defence he snagged four interceptions.

Billy Vessels became the first player to win the Schenley Award as the Canadian Rugby-Football Union's Most Outstanding Player Billy Vessels played only the one season in Canada.

Billy Vessels played one game with the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen of the ORFU who were acting as a farm team for Edmonton in 1954 - this was to try and qualify Billy Vessels as a non-import under the rules at that time.

Billy Vessels was elected president of the National Association of State Racing Commissions in 1984 and served as director of the Florida division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering from 1987 to 1989.