Ernie Nevers

One of two pro footballers to give up a homer to Babe Ruth in 1927 (the other was Garland Buckeye), Nevers’s heroics against the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame while playing for Stanford in the 1925 Rose Bowl made him a box-office draw upon his arrival in the major leagues in 1926. Pushed too quickly to succeed as a pitcher, he switched back to football to become a pioneer fullback star in the NFL.