Leon Hart biography, from The Notre Dame Football Encyclopedia, by Marder, Spellen and Donovan.

Hart may have been one of the best players in the history of college football. Imagine if he had played in cleats that fit.

Hart was a stellar football, baseball, basketball, and track performer at Turtle Creek High School, in Pennsylvania. He was a blue-chip prospect who turned down many offers, including one from the nearby University of Pittsburgh, to join head coach Frank Leahy in South Bend. Hart was a large man for his time, and when he showed up for his first practice in 1946 he requested size fourteen shoes. Equipment manager John MacAllister heard him correctly, but handed Hart a pair of size thirteen shoes.  Hart pointed out the error, and the gruff MacAllister shot back, "Nobody that wore size fourteens was ever any good - so you're wearing thirteens." Sure enough, Hart wreaked havoc on the opposition for four seasons with his feet crammed in under-sized cleats. His feet would finally get relief when he entered the professional ranks. That was just one of the many true tales about the big man.

Hart, one of only two linemen ever to win the Heisman Trophy (the other was Yale's Larry Kelly in 1936), was one of the last of the great two-way football players. Notre Dame did not lose one game during Hart's four seasons, compiling a jaw-dropping record of 36-0-1, and the Fighting Irish won three national championships. On offense he was a fullback and wide receiver, and did his job admirably. He was an outstanding blocker with soft hands, but he was far more accomplished on defense. Of course, Hart was big, and along with his size came strength. He was also surprisingly quick and agile and attacked the football. No player was more responsible for those great years at Notre Dame than Hart. He was a first-team All-American in 1947, 1948, and 1949; in the latter two years he was a consensus pick. After his senior year Hart won two awards - the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award - which recognized him as the nation's top player.

Hart's scope ranged beyond college football. He beat out National League Most Valuable Player Jackie Robinson and Sam Snead (who won both the Masters and PGA Championship in golf) to win Male Athlete of the Year from the Associated Press. Not bad for a guy with sore feet.

Hart graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, but the drafting table was put on hold for seven years while he continued his football success. The Detroit Lions selected him in the first round of the 1950 NFL draft. He was a member of three championship teams in
Detroit, and as one of the last players to play on both sides of the line of scrimmage, he was named an All-Pro on offense and defense in his second season. In 1957, Hart retired from the game and was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.

Seventeen-year old Leon Hart, a freshman in 1946, found himself playing among the veterans of World War II. The story is told that, as a freshman, he found a sign near the locker room saying that anybody who wanted to make a little wager should see a certain stu- dent in, say, 325 Howard Hall. Hart ripped the sign into tiny pieces and roared that "this has no place in a Notre Dame locker room!"

The 1947 team was largely the same as the '46. Jim Martin was back at end, and Leon Hart, who had won his letter as a freshman, was on the right flank. Leon, possibly more than anyone else, smarted under the discipline of football and N.D.

Though Hart was chosen on one All-America team as a sophomore and received five first-team votes in 1948, he came into his prime in '49, and as a result of his play was a unanimous first-team choice.

Against Southern Methodist Hart was moved to fullback and picked up six yards during a prolonged scoring drive. In the game with Southern California he scored in the first half on a pass from Tripucka, running 30 yards after the reception. The game ended in a 14-14 tie. The final game in the 1949 season ended four straight years since Leahy returned from the Navy without a single defeat in 38 games.

Hart, never a loud Leahy lover, recalled an afternoon at Yankee Stadium when college fooball was so big that hardly anyone knew the NFL existed. The score at halftime was Notre Dame 6, North Carolina 6. Leahy came swirling into the dressing room like a Dakota sandstorm.

"Leon Hart. Oooooh, Leon Hart. Some day you will cause the Pope himself to leave the Church. Ooooh, you do not deserve to represent Our Lady. Perhaps somebody else should take your place. Do you think that might be best? And you, John Mazur. Ooooh, John Mazur. Why don't you go back to the Pennsylvania coal mines where we found you? That's where they could use another jackass! Herb Jones. Ooooh, Herb Jones! Cancel the first class transportation back to South Bend, because we are going to scrimmage all day tomorrow at Bear Mountain. Give Leon Hart 76 cents for meal money and let him start hitch-hiking home right now. I see absolutely no need for his immortal soul. Let us now bow our heads and pray to Our Lady for forgiveness, for we have disgraced her terribly."

The second half was brutalizing. Notre Dame scored 36 points to North Carolina's none. Final: Irish 42, Tar Heels 6.

That year Co-Captain Hart caught 19 passes for 257 yards and 5 touchdowns. The 6'5", 265-pound Leon was voted the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award as the Player of the Year. He was a unanimous All- America choice. The same year he also received the Rockne Trophy.

In later life Leon recalled another Leahy episode. "Ooooh, Leon Hart, you have disgraced all of us by not keeping your weight down. Ooooh, Leon Hart, you will cause the archbishop himself to toss and turn at night, because you have let yourself get out of shape. Ooooh, what a blessing it is that your fine mother and father do not have to see what has happened to you this evening. They would reject the fine Catholic education I promised I would see that you received."

Heisman Trophy winner Hart used to pass out religious medals with his autographs to grade school youngsters - and always talk up the Fighting Irish.

Leon Hart is listed in the Notre Dame Football Hall of Fame at tight end.