Pro Football Medal of Honor Winners

Our Memorial Day salute to the American Heroes with football connections continues! We honor those that serve and have served this country with this special tip of the hat podcast on the folks that have received the top award for bravery and heroism, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

We did an episode with our dear friend Ray Durbin last year on many of the Fallen Heroes who had left playing the game of football to serve their country and passed in this great sacrafice to protect freedom.  In honor of Memorial Day this year we wanted to pay homage to those that received the Nation's honor for service to the United States, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

First of all let's define exactly what the Medal of Honor is. According to EveryCRSReport.com the MOH is:

"The Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military award for bravery. It is awarded by the President in the name of Congress. For this reason, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. Since it was first presented in 1863, the medal has been awarded 3,512 times to 3,493 recipients."

With that said we know that there have been some NFL players that have received the MOH from the President of the United States over the years. We gained much of this information from the fine website of The History Reader

Jack Lummus

Jack played for the New York Giants in the 1940s. Just after his rookie season in the NFL, Lummus was called to be a U.S. Marine. As a Marine he went through Officer's Training and was placed in an elite division of the Corpcalled the Marine Raiders. That group has historicaly been recorded as America’s first special operations unit. When the Raiders were disbanded in 1944, Jack was sent to the newly formed 5th Marine division.

On a famous combat mission on February 19, 1945 Lummus was one of the men that stormed the Island of Iwo Jima. Jack and the others took heavy fire from their Japanese enemy. Unfortunately Lummus was hit and required surgery. He was wounded severely and in his dying words it has been reported he tol the doctor working on him something to the effect that the New York Giants had lost a pretty good end. They did in fact, as Jack Lummus passed from his injuries sustained on the Pacific Island. In 1946, Jack’s mother accepted the Medal of Honor on behalf of her son as part of a Memorial Day ceremony.

Maurice "Footsie" Britt

Footsie Britt hailed originally from the fine state of Arkansas and he rose to fame as an athlete as well as a soldier. He played football and basketball on the hardcourts at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and then advanced to professional football per the Encyclopedia of Arkansas website. After attending Arkansas Britt was picked up by the Detroit Lions. He played in 9 out of 11 games his rookie season and even scored a TD against the Philadelphia Eagles on a 45-yard play. This was Footsie's only career NFL reception. It was what he did after he signed on with the Army during the second Great War that was truly special. He joined the Army a couple of days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

During World War II he became the first person in hisotry to win all of the U.S. Army's top awards. He was the most decorated soldier of WWII until 1945. Britt had lost an arm during a bomb exploding near him early in his service of active duty. He survived, suffered other injuries as well, and finished with three years of service. When he returned home he accepted the Medal of Honor for the brave acts in battle that resulted int he amputation of his limb. He went on to be a successful businessman and even served in politics.

Joe Foss

Joe's place on football history was that he once served as the Commissioner of the American Football League. He started out as a reserve player on the University of South Dakota squad, and saw little playing time. He ended up being a pretty good professional football executive and soon earned the Commish title of the AFL. Foss never truly worked in the NFL but he did help broker the merger with Pete Rozelle and others to help the opposing leagues join forces.

Before all of that Joe Foss served in the U.S. Marine Corp during World War II. He was a fighter pilot. Many consider him to be one of the top U.S. aeriel aces, including Life Magazine in a story they ran on Joe in 1943. You see during World War II  Lt. Joseph Foss had shot down 26 Japanese planes and ruined many planes and enemy equipment in an aerial fights above Guadalcanal. These actions earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and Medal of Honor. That is a pretty awesome service to his country, however it did not stop there.

We want to salute all of the brave men and women that have placed their lives on hold to protect the citizens of these United States and protect its borders and interests around the world.

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of the Public Domain of a Profile drawing of Joe Foss, Guadalcanal 1942 by Bzuk at en.wikipedia

Special thanks to the websites mentioned above in the article and for our military service people that protect us daily.