Notre Dame Football: Biggest NFL Draft busts in program history
Notre Dame Football: Biggest NFL Draft busts in program history
Bill Shakespeare
In Notre Dame history and lore, Bill Shakespeare doesn’t get his due, but that might be because he came to Notre Dame the year after Knute Rockne died. That means he didn’t win a National Championship playing under another legendary Irish running back, Elmer Layden.
Still, Shakespeare had some magical moments at Notre Dame. He threw the game-winning pass of the 1936 Game of the Century against Ohio State and was an All-American who found himself in the College Football Hall of Fame.
That amazing career culminated by being taken in the 1st round, overall pick number 3, in the 1936 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1936 NFL Draft was the first NFL Draft, making Shakespeare the first Notre Dame player ever drafted.
So, what did he do with that career? He played one season, retiring to go into business instead. The NFL was just too underpaying, and Shakespeare would go on to work for the Cincinnati Rubber Company, making it to President of the company.
During World War II Shakespeare was awarded a Bronze Star for his service during the Battle of the Bulge, and, yes. Bill Shakespeare is named after that other Bill Shakespeare, who he claimed to be a descendent of.
Creighton Miller
Frank Leahy hated Creighton Miller, who couldn’t be bothered to leave the golf course in time to make practice. Frank Leahy also could never bench Miller. He was just too good of a running back. His uncle, Don Miller, was a legend at Notre Dame as a member of Rockne’s Four Horsemen, but his nephew would push him during the 1940s.
The All-American was on his way to being an All-American and College Football Hall of Famer.
Miller would be drafted No. 3 overall in 1944 by the Brooklyn Tigers. He would never play a snap of professional football, however, because high blood pressure would keep him off the field. Instead, Miller would coach for a period, before becoming the attorney vital in the formation of the NFLPA. This means that Miller may have had the biggest impact on the NFL as any former player in history, without ever playing a single snap.
Angelo Bertelli
There are a lot of Heisman winners who didn’t make it in the NFL. Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Tim Tebow, the list goes on. Angelo Bertelli is just another one of those guys. While at Notre Dame, Bertelli was an icon.
The National Championship-winning quarterback was named Sporting News Player of the Year and was an All-American on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy and heading to the College Football Hall of Fame.
In the NFL, Bertelli was less successful. Drafted 1st overall in 1944 by the Boston Yanks, Bertelli never played for the Yanks, instead going to fight in World War II. More specifically, he was almost killed at Iwo Jima.
Once Bertelli came home from the war, he did play in the NFL, for the Los Angeles Dons and the Chicago Rockets, for a total of three seasons. Knee surgeries would end his career early. Later in life, Bertelli would be the Princeton football play-by-play announcer.