34 Facts About Chuck Bednarik

Chuck Bednarik played college football for the Penn Quakers, and was selected with the first overall pick of the 1949 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played his entire 14-year NFL career from 1949 through 1962.

Chuck Bednarik is ranked one of the hardest hitting tacklers in NFL history, and was one of the league's last two-way players.

On November 20,1960, Chuck Bednarik knocked New York Giants star halfback Frank Gifford unconscious with a tackle that was called "professional football's most notorious concussion".

Chuck Bednarik was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, his first year of eligibility, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

Chuck Bednarik was named to the NFL 50th Anniversary All Time Team, the NFL 75th Anniversary All Time Two Way Team, and the NFL 100th Anniversary All Time Team.

Chuck Bednarik then attended Bethlehem Catholic and later Liberty High School in Bethlehem, where he played football.

In later life, Chuck Bednarik visited Slovakia three or four times.

Chuck Bednarik entered the US Air Force, where he served as a B-24 waist gunner with the Eighth Air Force.

Chuck Bednarik was awarded the Air Medal, four Oak Leaf Clusters, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and four Battle Stars for his military service.

Chuck Bednarik had the word MOTHER coming out of a blossoming flower tattooed on his forearm, so he could be identified if his plane was shot down.

At Penn, Chuck Bednarik was a two-time Consensus All-American in 1947 and 1948.

In 1948, Chuck Bednarik placed third in Heisman Trophy voting and won the Maxwell Award for outstanding college player that year.

Chuck Bednarik was seventh place for the Heisman in 1947 and second team All-America in 1946.

The Chuck Bednarik Award is awarded annually by the Maxwell Football Club to the best defensive player in college football.

Chuck Bednarik was the first player selected overall in the 1949 NFL draft, by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he went on to start on both offense as a center and on defense as a linebacker for the Eagles.

Chuck Bednarik was a member of two Eagles' NFL Championship teams, in 1949 and again in 1960.

Chuck Bednarik played 58 minutes in the 1960 NFL Championship Game.

On November 20,1960, in a game between the Eagles and New York Giants at the original Yankee Stadium, Chuck Bednarik knocked Giants running back Frank Gifford out of football for over 18 months in one of the most famed tackles in NFL history, often referred to simply as The Hit.

Chuck Bednarik was criticized after the game by Giants players and fans for apparently celebrating Gifford's injury.

Chuck Bednarik defended himself by saying that he was celebrating the fumble caused by the hit, which the Eagles recovered and clinched the victory for the Eagles, sending the team to 1960 NFL Championship Game.

Chuck Bednarik was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, and was named to the NFL 50th Anniversary All Time Team as the center, the NFL 75th Anniversary All Time Two Way Team, and the NFL 100th Anniversary All Time Team as a linebacker.

Chuck Bednarik was named to the NFL All Decade Team for the 1950s as a center.

Chuck Bednarik was selected All NFL nine times, and played in eight Pro Bowls.

Chuck Bednarik was MVP of the 1954 Pro Bowl, taking back an interception for a touchdown, recovering three fumbles, and even punting when the punter got injured.

Chuck Bednarik proved extremely durable, playing in 169 of 172 games in his 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, and two of his only three games missed were at the beginning of his rookie year.

Chuck Bednarik spoke with coach Earle "Greasy" Neale after those games and asked to be traded if we was not going to play.

Chuck Bednarik became a starter, playing linebacker and center, after that.

Chuck Bednarik was the last of the NFL's "Sixty-Minute Men", players who played both offense and defense on a regular basis.

In 2010, Chuck Bednarik was ranked 35th on the NFL Network's "The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players".

Chuck Bednarik even criticized Troy Brown of the New England Patriots and Deion Sanders of the Dallas Cowboys, two players who have played both offense and defense.

Chuck Bednarik noted that Brown and Sanders saw time at both wide receiver and cornerback, positions that did not require as much contact as he endured while playing both center and linebacker.

Chuck Bednarik believed a true two-way player had to play every down.

Chuck Bednarik quarreled with current Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in 1996.

Chuck Bednarik was a consistent critic of several league issues, including his pension, today's salaries, and one-way players.