1. Leon Joseph Hart was an American football player who was an end and fullback.
22 Facts About Leon Hart
1. 2.
Leon Hart played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, winning the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award in 1949.
3.
Leon Hart received All-American honors in three consecutive years from 1947 to 1949.
4.
Leon Hart played professional football for eight seasons, from 1950 to 1957, with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.
5.
Leon Hart is the most recent of only two lineman ever to win the Heisman Trophy.
6.
Leon Hart was a pioneer for NFL player benefits, risking his pro career and initiating union talks targeting support for a reasonable standard of living for all players during the 1954 season, well before the eventual formulation of the NFLPA.
7.
Leon Hart spearheaded an initiative for the inclusion of players who retired prior to the 1959 season in the NFL pension plan.
8.
Leon Hart was born in Pittsburgh in 1928 raised in nearby Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, and attended Turtle Creek High School.
9.
Leon Hart won varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball while in high school.
10.
Leon Hart attended the University of Notre Dame where he played college football at the end position, both offense and defense, for Frank Leahy's Fighting Irish football teams from 1946 to 1949.
11.
Leon Hart received first-team All-American honors three times, from the Football Writers Association of America in 1947 and as a consensus first-team selection in 1948 and 1949.
12.
Leon Hart began playing for Notre Dame as a 17-year-old freshman in 1946.
13.
Leon Hart was voted as the Associated Press Athlete of the Year award with 104 points, edging professional baseball player Jackie Robinson.
14.
Leon Hart graduated from Notre Dame in 1950 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
15.
Leon Hart was selected by the Detroit Lions with the first overall pick in the 1950 NFL draft.
16.
Leon Hart signed a three-year contract with the Lions in February 1950 for a salary reported to be close to $20,000.
17.
Leon Hart played for the Lions from 1950 to 1957, appeared in 92 games, and was a member of NFL championship teams in 1952,1953, and 1957.
18.
In February 1950, Leon Hart married Lois Newyahr, his high school girlfriend, at St Colman's Roman Catholic Church in Turtle Creek.
19.
Leon Hart operated a business that manufactured equipment to balance tires.
20.
Leon Hart was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.
21.
Leon Hart died in 2002 at St Joseph Medical Center in South Bend, Indiana, at age 73.
22.
Leon Hart was buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Notre Dame, Indiana.