Notre Dame’s Golden Boy, 1956 Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung, died at age 84 Friday.
One of the greatest all-around players in the game, and one of only six Notre Dame players enshrined in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, Hornung is often noted as the lone Heisman Trophy recipient who played on a losing team (2-8).
“I can’t believe it,” Hornung said at the time of his award. “I didn’t think I was even up for consideration.”
Of course, it was a different era. There was no weekly “Heisman Watch,” and candidates weren’t flown into New York City for the dramatic nationally televised announcement. Hornung said he first heard about it in a phone call from former winner and then radio broadcaster Tom Harmon.
“I was told to go to (Notre Dame sports publicity director) Charlie Callahan’s office,” Hornung recalled. “When I got there, Charlie handed me the phone and said, ‘Tell your mother you have just won the Heisman Trophy.’ ”
How did Hornung win the ’56 Heisman?
Undoubtedly, the name Notre Dame had much to do with it. Hornung became the fifth Fighting Irish recipient in 14 seasons, beginning with Angelo Bertelli (1943) and continuing with John Lujack (1947), Leon Hart (1949), John Lattner (1953) and himself.
Second, Hornung had a stellar junior year, leading the Irish to an 8-2 mark and finishing 5th in the Heisman race – the highest among all non-seniors. Voters kept that in mind for ’56.
Finally, football grants-in-aid had been cut back at Notre Dame in the early 1950s, and the roster had become thinner under third-year head coach Terry Brennan, who had succeeded the legendary Frank Leahy. With Notre Dame bereft of the depth it once had, Hornung became the most versatile player in college football.
In 1956, Hornung led the Irish in seven statistical categories, and only Stanford’s John Brodie ranked ahead of him nationally in total yards. In addition, Hornung was second nationally in kickoff returns, 15th in passing and 16th in scoring.
He lined up at quarterback, fullback and halfback, played through several injuries, kicked off and kicked extra points and field goals, punted, accounted for more than half of the team’s scoring (including all the points in the 21-14 victory over North Carolina), and was second in tackles recorded (55).
Wrote the esteemed Dick Schaap in Sport magazine: “In recent years many schools have had football teams named Desire. In 1956 Notre Dame had a football team named Hornung. He passed. He tackled. He intercepted passes. Surrounded by the walking wounded, playing for a team crippled by injuries, Hornung was the whole show.”
Amid the worst of circumstances, something special was sensed even then about Hornung, a bonus pick by the hapless Green Bay Packers in the 1957 NFL draft.
With Vince Lombardi’s hiring in 1959, Hornung moved from quarterback to halfback and became the centerpiece of one of the great dynasties in sports history. Hornung led the league in scoring from 1959-1961, and he was on four Packer teams that won NFL titles. Lombardi called him “the greatest player I’ve ever coached.”
“The thing I’m proudest of is that I made the College Hall of Fame as a quarterback and the Pro Hall of Fame as a running back,” Hornung said.
Such flexibility led to the Paul Hornung Award that since 2010 honors college football’s most versatile high-level performer.
His exploits off the field made the “Golden Boy” a legend in other ways, including a one-year suspension for gambling. Well before “Broadway Joe’s” arrival at New York, Hornung’s nocturnal lifestyle was there for public consumption.
“Never get married in the morning – you never know who you’ll meet that night,” Hornung once said, yet was married to wife Angela for 41 years until death did them part this week.
Legend has it that after repeatedly fining Hornung for his late-night shenanigans, the exasperated taskmaster Lombardi finally decided to raise the fine to a much higher level.
“And if you find anyone worth that much – call me,” Lombardi reportedly told Hornung.
When Hornung was a Notre Dame freshman, senior Johnny Lattner, the 1953 Heisman winner, discovered how this wasn't the average individual.
"He had a car when he was a freshman, and I didn’t as a senior," Lattner told me in an interview years ago. "I was supposed to be like a big brother and watch over him, so before school started I said to him one time, “Let’s go to a movie!” He didn’t want to and took me to Mishawaka and some bars I never heard of. We had only a couple of beers, but after a couple of days with him I said, 'Paul, if I stay with you, I won’t make the team.'”
A generous supporter of a convent orphanage in Louisville and Georgetown's Lombardi Cancer Center, Hornung had various business enterprises in his native Louisville and also was a long-time broadcaster in the NFL and for the C.D. Chesley Sunday morning Notre Dame highlights with partner Lindsay Nelson in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Hornung has said that he would like his epitaph to read: “He went through life on scholarship.”
In 1956 and beyond, though, he earned everything he received, including the Heisman. It was quite the run, beyond just the football field.
Paul Hornung By The Numbers
1 Hornung’s selection in the 1957 NFL Draft. It came down to a coin flip between the Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers for the right to choose first. Hornung hoped for Chicago to win the toss because of better business opportunities and night life, but the Packers won – and ultimately, so did Hornung.
4 Players in Notre Dame history who finished in the top 5 of the Heisman Trophy balloting in back-to-back seasons. John Lujack was third (1946) and first (1947); John Lattner fifth (1952) and first (1953); Hornung fifth (1955) and first (1956) and Brady Quinn fourth (2005) and third (2006).
5 Touchdowns scored by Hornung in 1965 during a 42-27 victory over the Baltimore Colts in a 1965 regular season game. The career-high effort was overshadowed by Gale Sayers’ six-touchdown effort in a victory at San Francisco that same day. Whenever he saw Sayers afterwards, Hornung jokingly referred to him as “the upstaging SOB.” Sayers passed away this Sept. 23.
6 Notre Dame football players enshrined in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. The select company features end Wayne Millner (1933-35), lineman/linebacker George Connor (1946-47), quarterback/halfback/kicker Hornung (1954-56), defensive lineman Alan Page (1964-66), tight end Dave Casper (1971-73) and receiver Tim Brown (1984-87).
7 Different statistical categories Hornung led Notre Dame in during his senior year when he won the Heisman Trophy: rushing, passing, scoring, kickoff returns, punt returns, punting and passes broken up. He also was second in tackles and interceptions, and caught three passes.
31 Yards per kickoff return averaged by Hornung as a senior (16 for 496 yards) – a Notre Dame single-season record (minimum 1.5 returns per game) that still stands. At No. 2 is Rocket Ismail in 1989 with a 29.5 average (17 for 505) and No. 3 is Tim Brown in 1986 at 28.6 (27 for 773).
176 Points scored by Hornung during the 1960 NFL regular season – a record that stood 46 years before getting broke by LaDainian Tomlinson. Hornung scored 15 touchdowns, booted 15 field goals and added 41 PATs. Just as amazing is the point total was accomplished when the NFL was playing just a 12-game regular season.
1,337 Total offense yards produced by Hornung as a Notre Dame senior, finishing second nationally to Stanford’s John Brodie. As a junior, Hornung finished fifth in the same category with 1,215 yards.
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