Frank Sinkwich

Bio

He didn't want to be a halfback because, in those days, halfbacks had to throw the football. "Make me a fullback," Frank Sinkwich begged Georgia coach Wally Butts. But Butts insisted the Youngstown, Ohio, native had a good arm and needed nothing more than confidence. So it was that Sinkwich ended up as one of the nation's great passers. "Good passers are both born and made," Butts said of him. "He acquired, through hard work and endless practice, the ability to pick the open receiver better than anybody I ever saw." He was a two-time consensus All-America and twice was the SEC Player of the Year. Sinkwich posed an unlikely football candidate, but he established a national total-offense record of 2187 yards, 1392 of those coming through the air. In Georgia's 40-26 victory over Texas Christian in the 1942 Orange Bowl, he completed 9 of 13 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown - a total of 382 all-purpose yards. Sinkwich was the Heisman Trophy winner as a result of his amazing play as a senior in 1942. Following his collegiate playing days, Sinkwich broke into the NFL with the Detroit Lions and, in 1944, was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player.

Career Highlights

• 1942 All-Conference
• 1942 Conference MVP
• 1942 Heisman Trophy winner
• 1942 Led nation in total offense
• 1942 Unanimous All-America
• 1941 All-Conference
• 1941 Conference MVP
• 1941 Consensus All-America
• 1941 Heisman - Fourth
• 1941 Led nation in rushing