The football I want I will never see

Travis Hunter has renewed an obsession of mine.

I talked about the Heisman trophy-winning defensive back/wide receiver on Blue 58 recently as a “unicorn,” and in a certain sense that’s true. There’s no one like him in modern football.

In modern football.

In the early days of the sport? Players like him would hardly have been unique. If you told someone from the 1930s or 40s about a player who not only led his team in receiving, but happened to be an elite defensive back too, they’d probably ask if you were talking about Don Hutson or any of the other two-way stars of the era. There were many players who were legitimate stars on both sides of the ball — or more accurately, on all sides of the ball.

Take Verne Lewellen, for instance. Not only was he a key player for the Packers on offense and defense, his punting was a massive weapon in an era where field position was paramount. Just look at his contributions to the Packers’ first win over the Bears. On that September day in 1925, Lewellen didn’t just score the game-winning touchdown, he pinned the Bears deep with punt after punt after punt, stunting Chicago’s offense before they even got the ball.

Specialization ended the two-way star by the 1960s, though. Chuck Bednarik, considered one of the last great two-way players, hung it up for good in 1962 and took with him the last vestiges of the sport that football used to be.

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