 Lujackc. 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||
| No. 32 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback /Safety | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1925-01-04)January 4, 1925 Connellsville, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Died: | July 25, 2023(2023-07-25) (aged 98) Naples, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 186 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Connellsville | ||||||||||||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame (1943; 1946–1947) | ||||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1946: 1st round, 4th pick | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||||
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John Christopher Lujack Jr.[1] (/ˈluːdʒæk/;[2] January 4, 1925 – July 25, 2023) was an Americanfootball player who was aquarterback andsafety. He playedcollege football for theNotre Dame Fighting Irish, winning theHeisman Trophy in 1947. He was also a unanimous All-American in both 1946 and 1947, leading the team to national championships both years. He later played professionally for theChicago Bears of theNational Football League (NFL) from 1948 to 1951, receiving first-teamAll-Pro honors in 1950.
Lujack was born to Alice and John Luczak,[3] in 1925 inConnellsville, Pennsylvania,[4] the youngest of four sons and fifth child in a family of six children.[4] The family is of Polish descent and included older siblings Valentine ("Val"), Stanislaus ("Stan"), Victoria, Aloysius ("Allie", who went on to play professional basketball), and younger sister Dolores.[3][5][6][4][7] His father worked for thePittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for thirty years as aboilermaker.[7]
Lujack attendedConnellsville High School and played for the school's football team from 1939 to 1941. He was also the senior class president and valedictorian.[8] In high school, helettered in four sports; baseball, football, basketball, and track.[3][9]
Lujack's 1941 high school team, named the Cokers for workers in the coal milling industry who feed the ovens, went 8–0–1, but did not get to play for the WPIAL league championship because their last game, with Brownsville, ended in a 13–13 tie.[10]
People in Connellsville had wanted Lujack to go to theUnited States Military Academy (Army) at West Point, going so far as to ask their local congressman for an appointment, but Lujack, a fan ofNotre Dame football from listening to their radio broadcasts, had his heart set on playing inSouth Bend.[11][12] He was the first Connellsville High School student to receive an appointment to Army.[3]
Lujack attended theUniversity of Notre Dame, where he was given a scholarship byFrank Leahy, from 1942 to 1943 and then 1946 to 1947. His career was interrupted for two years byWorld War II after his sophomore season, during which he served as an officer in theUnited States Navy. His time in the Navy was spent hunting German submarines in theEnglish Channel as anensign.[11][12]
When Lujack returned from the Atlantic (ETO) duty, he appeared on the cover of the September 29, 1947, issue ofLIFE.[13] He led the 1947 Fighting Irish to a 9–0 record for his senior year, during which he completed 61 passes on 109 attempts for 777 yards and rushed for 139 yards on 12 carries, and won the Heisman Trophy.[10] As he had in high school, Lujack once again received varsity letters (called "monograms") in four sports (again baseball, football, basketball, and track) while at Notre Dame, becoming the third person to do so.[11] As a track and field athlete, he competed in thehigh jump andjavelin throw, at times dashing over to the track to compete between innings of baseball games that he was playing in.[14] He was a two-timeunanimous All-American (1946 and 1947) and led Notre Dame to three national championships (1943, 1946, and 1947).[15][16] In addition to winning the Heisman, Lujack was named theAssociated Press Athlete of the Year.[12]
Lujack was paidUSD$17,000 for his 1948 rookie season with the Bears and $20,000 for his fourth and final season.[10] In his rookie season he playeddefensive back and kicker, during which he had eight interceptions for 131 yards and kicked 44 out of 46 extra points.[10][17]
In the summer of 1949, Lujack starred in a radio program on ABC,The Adventures of Johnny Lujack, which was a summertime replacement for theJack Armstrong, the All-American Boy show. It was a 30-minute program and broadcast on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.[18] The show was broadcast from the studios ofWGN inChicago over theMutual Broadcasting System (MBS) and ran for 13 weeks.[19]
In the final game of the 1949 season, the 9–3 Bears defeated their hometown rivals, theChicago Cardinals (6–5–1), by a score of 52–21 on December 11. In that game, Lujack threw six touchdown passes and set an NFL record with 468 passing yards.[20][21] The record was broken later byNorm Van Brocklin. He was the last Bears quarterback to throw at least five touchdown passes in a game untilMitchell Trubisky threw six against theTampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018.[22]
Sid Luckman andGeorge Blanda played behind Lujack in the rotation at quarterback for the 1949 and 1950 seasons.[23][24]
During the 1950 season, Lujack set an NFL record with 11 rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. This record was tied byTobin Rote with the Green Bay Packers in 1956, and broken by the New England Patriots'Steve Grogan in 1976.[25][26] Lujack, named to the 1950 All-Pro First-team, also set a Bears record for 109 total points in a season with 11 touchdowns, three (out of five) field-goals, and 34 (out of 35) extra points.[27] That record was surpassed byGale Sayers in 1965 with 132 total points.[28]
After four years with the Bears, Lujack returned to Notre Dame as an assistant coach for 1952 and 1953 to repay Frank Leahy as a debt of gratitude for having given him a scholarship to Notre Dame.[8][10] Leahy wanted Lujack to succeed him as the head coach of the Fighting Irish, butTerry Brennan was chosen instead by ReverendTheodore Hesburgh, the university president.[29]
In 1954, he then went into the car dealership business with his father-in-law, at Lujack Schierbrock Chevrolet Company ofDavenport, Iowa.[8][30] He purchased his father-in-law's dealership interest in 1988.[31] Sometime in late 2006, the dealership was sold by his former son-in-law to Smart Automotive.[32]
Lujack served as a televisioncolor commentator for NFL games onNFL on CBS for several years, teaming withRay Scott to callGreen Bay Packers games in 1957 and withChris Schenkel to callNew York Giants games from 1958 to 1961.[33][34][35] However, in 1962 when Ford signed on as a major sponsor and learned that Lujack was a Chevrolet dealer, he was replaced byPat Summerall.[35][36] He also worked withJim McKay on CBS doing college football and onABC college football telecasts in the late 1960s.[37]
On June 8, 1978, Lujack was inducted into theNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.[38]
In 2005, Lujack donated $50,000 to Connellsville High School toward a new field house for the football stadium.[8] It was later named Johnny Lujack Field House.[8] The Johnny Lujack Training Facility was formally dedicated in 2009 and he was also inducted into the inaugural class of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame.[12]
His wife, the former Patricia Ann "Pat" Schierbrock (February 22, 1927 — August 2, 2022), was the daughter of Josephine (née Wilson) and Frank H. Schierbrock.[39] Lujack and Schierbrock were married inDavenport, Iowa at theSacred Heart Cathedral on June 26, 1948.[15][40] They had three children:[33] Mary, Jeff, and Carol (1954–2002).[41]
Lujack was distantly related to NFL playerBen Skowronek and Olympic gymnastCourtney Kupets. NFL quarterbackTrent Green married into the family.[42]
Lujack died at a hospice inNaples, Florida, on July 25, 2023, at age 98.[1][43]
| Season | Team | Cmp | Att | Pct | Passing Yds | Passing TD | Int | Rtg | Rushing Yds | Rushing Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Notre Dame | 34 | 71 | 47.9 | 525 | 4 | 8 | 106.1 | 191 | 4.2 |
| 1946 | Notre Dame | 49 | 100 | 49.0 | 778 | 6 | 8 | 114.9 | 108 | 4.7 |
| 1947 | Notre Dame | 61 | 109 | 56.0 | 777 | 9 | 8 | 128.4 | 139 | 11.6 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | Record | Att | Cmp | Yds | TD | Int | Lng |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | CHI | 9 | 3 | — | 66 | 36 | 611 | 6 | 3 | 64 |
| 1949 | CHI | 12 | 7 | — | 312 | 162 | 2,658 | 23 | 22 | 81 |
| 1950 | CHI | 12 | 12 | 9–3 | 254 | 121 | 1,731 | 4 | 21 | 70 |
| 1951 | CHI | 12 | 6 | 4–2 | 176 | 85 | 1,295 | 8 | 8 | 78 |
| Career[44] | 45 | 28 | 13–5 | 808 | 404 | 6,295 | 41 | 54 | 81 | |
