25 most sought after NFL quarterback draft prospects of all time

You know a player is coveted when he is selected with the top pick in any draft by a team that never knows if it will get to play that athlete.

Angelo Bertelli, the first Heisman Trophy winner in Notre Dame history, was already fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II when the Boston Yanks opted to select the Massachusetts-born quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1944 NFL Draft.

Even though it looked like the Yanks might never get the chance to sign a contract with Bertelli, he was too good a talent to let his rights slip away to another franchise.

Bertelli arrived in South Bend as a phenomenal single-wing tailback and left for the Marines as the nation’s best T-formation quarterback. Finishing second in the 1941 Heisman voting as a sophomore, Bertelli won the award two years later, despite playing in only the first six Fighting Irish games before military service preempted the gridiron. Even with the limited playing time, Bertelli won the vote by a margin of more than 3-to-1.

After the war, Bertelli returned to the United States and opted to sign a contract with the Los Angeles Dons in the All-America Football Conference. After a year with the Dons, Bertelli moved on to the Chicago Rockets before a knee injury ended his playing career.

In many ways Bertelli’s career was a disappointment. After a 7-5-2 year with the Dons, he went 1-13 both years with the Rockets before the premature termination of his career. He moved on to a life as the color commentator for Princeton football in the 1950s and 1960s, and lived as a Notre Dame legend until his death in 1999.