Friday, Feb. 04, 2011
Supreme Player
Back in 1938, when the Steelers were still the Pirates, they signed Byron White, All-American and future Supreme Court justice, to his first NFL contract. "Whizzer" White led the league in rushing that season. But as TIME noted in its profile of him nearly 50 years ago, "White took a year out from pro football to go to Oxford University in 1939 as a Rhodes scholar." He eventually went on to play with the Detroit Lions as well as graduate from Yale Law School. In 1962, President Kennedy appointed him to the Supreme Court.