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Jay Berwanger — Chicago
[credit]Chicago Athletics[/credit]
COMPARE: CHICAGO
The only winner to play for a team that finished the year with a .500 record, Berwanger's Maroon's went just 4-4 back in 1935. He was the very first recipient of the award which was called the "Downtown Athletic Club Trophy" at the time.
Taken with the first pick in the 1939 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, and then traded to the Chicago Bears, Berwanger declined to play in the pros to found a rubber company instead.
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