Posted on 12/05/2022 1:51:57 PM PST by ConservativeDude
athletes running for office or serving?
Can anyone name another Heismann Trophy winner who ran for the Senate (and lost)? I know of at least one.
Also, can anyone name a Heismann Trophy who served (with great distinction) in a non-elected position? I can think of one.
Related....I can think of two very good professional athletes who served in the Senate. Who would they be? I can also think of one very good pro athlete who served in the US House, and another member of the US House who was a great college athlete but only a minor pro athlete (and not in the US...). Who might these two be?
And one of those professional athletes was also an Olympian (and gold medalist). I can think of one other Senator who was an olympian. Who might that be?
Further in the category of Olympians, I can think of one former member of the US House who was a great Olympian. Who might that be?
Another interesting factoid. All of the above are Republicans, except for one Senator, and the non-elected office holder. They were both D's. And one of the above started as a dem but ended as a Republican.
I think I've given too many hints.
But who can answer any/all of these?
Incidentally, Herschel Walker was also a (winter) Olympian. If he manages to win, he will have an unprecedented quadrivium: Heismann, olympian, pro athlete and Senator.
Jim Ryun.
Jim Bunning.
Well Jim “Perfect Game” Bunning for one. US Senator from Ky.
C’mon.
Who cares?
Nice.
Keep going.
Righto.
Once a few other names emerge, it will be interesting to say, which one of these guys is the better athlete? (Noting the impossibility of reaching resolution, because they are in different sports....but that’s what makes it interesting).
Steve Spurrier.
Roger Staubach was quite successful in the real estate business. he also was the first football player to get Presidential Medal of Freedom (Trump 2018).
Staubach could’ve been President....
A truly great American.
Did Steve Spurrier serve in an office? He definitely had a career in coaching, but I was thinking more of governmental stuff....
So, was thinking of Whizzer White, who served on the US Supreme Court (and voted against Roe v Wade, along with Rehnquist).
Steve Largent, Seattle Seahawks receiver. Pro Football Hall of fame 1995. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district from 1994 to 2002. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2002 Oklahoma gubernatorial election.
There is a great podcast of him as a guest on Brock Huard’s “Above and Beyond”, the intersection between Faith and Sports.
Largent had a very difficult childhood and overcame so much.
Jack Kemp. VP candidate and HUD secretary.
Bill Bradley was a senator for several years.
So here’s the answer key:
Ben Nighthorse Campbell was on the Olympic judo team
Heismann winner Pete Dawkins ran for the Senate in NJ and lost
Bill Bradley, and Steve Largent were very good pro basketball and football players, respectively.
JC Watts was a great college player, and played in the CFL.
I actually was not thinking of Jack Kemp - how could I have forgotten him? - who was actually a pretty good pro quarterback, and who led the NFL players union (just as Reagan had led the screen actors guild....).
In reading Campbell’s wiki bio I realized that Sen Mullin (soon to be Senator) from Oklahom was a former pro MMA brawler. I didn’t know that before now....
right!
Some of the best hands in the game, of all time. Nice work!
well done!
Bradley also played on the Olympic basketball team.
Embarrassingly, I had forgotten Kemp when I teed up the question!
(I do think it’s interesting that only the GOP has ever nominated former heads of unions on their national ticket....Reagan and Kemp....)
Correction, Kemp led (I think) the AFL players union. Not the NFL.
Byron White was 1st in his class at Yale Law School, and he played for The Detroit Lions while he attended law school at Yale. He was nominated by JFK. Oh, he was only runner-up though for the Heisman Trophy in 1937. 🙂
Right. Good old Byron.
Spurrier was just a coach.
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