September 9, 1878 - Willie Heston was a halfback from San Jose State who later also played for the University of Michigan. Willie had never played football before when he enrolled into the San Jose State Normal School in 1898. His objective was to get a degree and become a teacher for his vocation. It was discovered though that Willie Heston was a very fast man as he ran the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds flat with good size for the era at 5'-8" tall and weighing in at 190 pounds. The school's football coach at the time was Jesse Woods who introduced the young man to the gridiron and promptly played him at halfback after seeing his natural talent on display. Woods was right on the money as Heston was a great runner that scored more touchdowns than his other players on the team. The next season in 1899, Willie Heston became the captain of the team which went undefeated and earned the right to play Chico State Normal School in a league championship game. The game ended in a 6-6 draw and people from both teams agreed to settle the game with a rematch three weeks from the time when the first matchup took place. For some unknown reason Woods did not coach the San Jose squad for this second championship game and Stanford's Coach Field H. Yost stepped in to lead Heston and his teammates as he was released by Stanford because the Pacific League barred him from being their coach snce he did not graduate from the school as was the rule for the league in that day. With just a few weeks of practice Yost guided the San Jose State team to 46 -0 blow out of Chico State in the rematch to capture the title. In 1901 Heston graduated and received his teaching degree and accepted a job at a school in Oregon. Coach Yost sent Willie a letter about that same time stating that he had accepted the head coaching job at Michigan and invited his former player of just one game to join him at Michigan. At first Willie declined the invitiation, and it is unknown what caused the change of heart but he soon there after accepted Fielding Yost's invitation. Willie Heston then set out to study law at Michigan while playing for the Wolverine's football team. Heston and Yost made Michigan one of the greatest teams in college history. The Wolverine squads from 1901 through 1904 became known as "the point-a-minute" teams because their average point totals were very close to a point being scored every minute they played! Remember, the forward pass was not legal in football until 1906 and Willie was the work horse of the team, as evident in a 1903 game against the University of Chicago Maroons where the Wolverines had a total of 267 yards rushing and Heston was responsible for 237 of them. Heston's four years at Michigan had a record of 43-0-1 and they outscored their opponents in an extremely one sided way 2326 points to 40! They won the National Championship in 1901 and again in 1902 as Michigan won the very first Rose Bowl for the crown. Coach Yost called Willie Heston the best player he has ever seen and WIllie was voted as the halfback by the Football Writers of America as the All-TIme team of the first 50 years of football. The National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame selected Willie Heston to enter the Hall in 1954's induction ceremony. Professional football was in it's infancy but multiple teams wanted Willie Heston to play for them. As the story goes Willie was approached by two teams in particular who wanted to pay him to play for their respective teams, the Akron East Ends and the Massillon Tigers. The shrewd Heston created a bidding war by the to teams for his services and even had sent a telegram to each stating that the other had offered him $500 to play one game on Thanksgiving Day 1904. The two club figured out what he was doing and each refused to do futher business with him. Heston became what was described by one writer as being "professional football's first hold out." Willie then went into coaching at Drake University for the 1905 season. And was coerced to play again in 1906 as he signed a contract to play for the Canton Bulldogs reportedly for $600 per game plus expenses. As fate would have in his first pro game as a player, he broke his leg against those same Massillon Tigers that he had sent the telegram to, and the leg was bad enough that it ended his playing career.
September 9, 1879 - Gordon Brown played for Yale University as a guard from 1897 through the 1900 season. Brown ended up being the captain of the 1900 Yale team which was dubbed as the "Team of the Century." The College Football Hall of Fame placed this special player in their exclusive club in 1954.
September 9, 1937 - Dick LeBeau was a defensive back from Ohio State University that became a 1959 NFL Draft 5th round pick by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns ended up cutting LeBeau and the Detroit Lions quickly picked up the 6' 1" 185 pound cornerback. What a pick up of the waiver wires he was, as DIck played for 14 seasons and made the Pro Bowl 3 times. LeBeau had a streak of 12 consecutive seasons of picking off at least interceptions. Dick LeBeau had 62 career picks for 762 return yards and 3 touchdowns. Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined him in their class of 2010. Dick went in to coaching and spent well over 40 years in the NFL coaching ranks. He was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and was famously the Defensive Coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers where he helped author the Zone Blitz scheme.
September 9, 1938 - Johnny Robinson was an All- Conference runningback from LSU who was drafted in 1960 by the NFL's Detroit Lions and the AFL's Dallas Texans. Johnny ended up signing with the Texans, who later became the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL. He had an interesting career as he played halfback his first two seasons in the AFL and then in 1963 switched to play safety for the remainder of his career. Coach Hank Stram felt that Robinson's size and speed made him more suitable as a safety and it paid off big. In just his second game at the new position, Johnny picked off the Oakland Raider's quarterback twice. Again in the 1962 AFL Championship game he had two more interceptions as the Texans knocked off their cross state rivals the Houston Oilers 20-7. The Pro Football Hall of Fame seleceted him to be a part of the 2019 enshrinement class.
September 9, 1941 - Pat Richter was an end from the University of Wisconsin. Richter was a nine time letterman at Wisconsin as he lettered three times each in football, basketball and baseball for the Badgers. He was invited to enter the confines of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1989 after 17 years in the business world, Richter returned to the University of Wisconsin to become the school's Athletic Director.
September 9, 1944 - James "Wolf" Grabowski was a former fullback from the University of Illinois. As a sophomore in 1963, Grabowski was named the MVP of the Rose Bowl Game after he helped lead the Illini to a 17-7 comeback victory over the Washington Huskies. He finished his college career as the Big Ten's all time career rushing leader. Jim made it to the NFL with his football talents playing for the Green Bay Packers and then later for the Chicago Bears. The College Football Hall of Fame selected him to enter the Hall in 1995's induction ceremony.
September 9, 1949 - Joe Theismann was a quarterback that played collegiately for the University of Notre Dame. Theismann was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the selection class of 2003. He played in both the CFL and the NFL. His NFL career was with the Washington Redskins for 12 seasons as he guided them to consecutive Super Bowl appearances and was the winning quarterback in one of them, Super Bowl XVII as Washington defeated the Miami Dolphins. Theismann's NFL career ended with what may have been one of the most vivid injuries witnessed in a nationally televised game, as you could see the bone in his leg break during a sack by legendary NY Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor on November 18, 1985
September 9, 1960 - Youngstown, Ohio - The legendary Head Coach of the Oklahoma Sooners Bob Stoops was born. The National Football Foundation voters selected to induct bob Stoops into their College Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
Special thanks for info garnered from the Pro Football Reference website.
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