Lujack on a 1948 Bowman football card
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No. 32 | |||||||||||||
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Position: | Quarterback / defensive back | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Date of birth: | January 4, 1925 | ||||||||||||
Place of birth: | Connellsville, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight: | 186 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school: | Connellsville (PA) | ||||||||||||
College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||
NFL Draft: | 1946 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4 | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||
Pass att/cmp: | 404/808 |
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Passing yards: | 6,295 |
TD–Int: | 41–54 |
Rushing yards: | 742 |
Rushing touchdowns: | 21 |
Interceptions: | 12 |
John Christopher Lujack Jr. (pronounced Lu' jack; born January 4, 1925) is a former American football quarterback and 1947 Heisman Trophy winner. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and professionally for the Chicago Bears. Lujack was the first of several successful quarterbacks who hailed from Western Pennsylvania. Others include Pro Football Hall of Fame members Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana and George Blanda.
Lujack was born to Alice and John, Sr., in 1925 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, the youngest of four sons and fifth child in a family of six children. The family is of Polish descent and included older siblings Valentine ("Val"), Stanley ("Stan"), Victoria, Aloysius ("Allie"), and younger sister Dolores. His father, John, Sr., worked for the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for thirty years as a boiler-maker.
He was on the Connellsville High School football team from 1939 to 1941, and was also senior class president and valedictorian. He lettered in four sports; baseball, football, basketball, and track, in high school.
His 1941 high school team, named the Cokers for workers in the coal milling industry who feed the ovens, went 8–0–1, but did not get to play for the WPIAL league championship because their last game, with Brownsville, ended in a 13-13 tie.
People in Connellsville had wanted him to go to the United States Military Academy (Army) at West Point, going so far as to ask their local congressman for an appointment, but Lujack, a fan of Notre Dame from listening to their football radio broadcasts, had his heart set on playing in South Bend. He was the first Connellsville High School student to receive an appointment to Army.