September 8, 1904 - Mortimer "Bud" Sprague was a former tackle from the University of Texas in 1922 through 1924 and later transferred to the United States Military Academy to play out the rest of his college eligibility for the Black Knights of Army. With some help of college eligibility rules of the era, Bud lettered in the sport of football an amazing 6 times, twice at Texas and 4 times with Army. He was an All-American in the 1926 and 1927 seasons and became the captain of the Army team in 1928. Bud Sprague was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970.
September 8, 1912 - Bob "Bones" Hamilton was a former Stanford hallfback that the College Football Hall of Fame placed in their rooms of honor in 1972 according to the National Football Foundation. After college Hamilton entered Major League Baseball as he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers never entering football professional ranks.
September 8, 1945 - Lem Barney was a cornerback out of Jackson State University. The six foot 188 pound defensive back was a 3-time All-Conference player in the Southwestern Conference during college but was still relatively unknown when the Detroit Lions drafted him in the second round of the 1967 NFL Draft. Lem started off his professional career in spectacular style. In a quote from the Barney on the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website the defender described his first play in the NFL as," I dove and intercepted it and did a forward shoulder roll got up and ran into the endzone, I think 24 yard. And I said man this is going to be easy." He sure made it look easy as he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Not only did the speedster play the corner but he was also an excellent kick returner and his team's emergency punter. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Lem Barney in the class of 1992.
September 8, 1952 - Anthony Davis was an amazing running back that played ball for Southern California and the College Football Hall of Fame enshrined Davis in the 2005 induction class. During his years at USC he also was a standout baseball player per the National Football Foundation. In fact as a Trojan, Davis won 5 National Championships! 2 in football and 3 with baseball! Davis led the USC team in rushing scoring and kick returns in 3 consecutive seasons. Anthony was also scored 11 touchdowns in his college career against rival Notre Dame. In fact in the game between the two schools played on December 2, 1972 Davis scored six times to lead the Trojans to a 45-23 thumping of the Irish. His professional career has a long resume as Davis played in the World Football League, the CFL, the NFL and later the USFL.
Special thanks to the Pro Football Reference website.
