Considered big and clumsy in his youth, Ernie Nevers (1903-1976) was the tackling dummy for his high school football team. However, the experience gave him strength and taught him fortitude. He played professional football, baseball, and basketball, and his heroics on the football field would later bring him national fame and enduring admiration.

Ernie Nevers, born on June 11, 1903, in Willow River, Minnesota, was the youngest of eight children. His innkeeper parents raised their family in several northeastern Minnesota towns. Nevers attended high school in Superior, Wisconsin. He was overweight and clumsy, and could not run very well, but was on the Central High School football team. During practice, his teammates used him as the tackling dummy, repeatedly knocking him down into a pile of sawdust. The punishment toughened him and prepared him for playing the aggressive game then popular. He did, however, excel at basketball at Central, and...