Alan Ameche

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Alan Ameche

No. 35
Fullback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1933-06-01)June 1, 1933
Place of birth: Kenosha, Wisconsin
Date of death: August 8, 1988(1988-08-08) (aged 55)
Place of death: Houston, Texas
Career information
College: Wisconsin
NFL Draft: 1955 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Debuted in 1955
Last played in 1960
Career history
Baltimore Colts (1955-1960)
Career highlights and awards
1954 Heisman Trophy Wisconsin Badgers #35 retired 1955 UPI NFL-NFC Rookie of the Year 2 x NFL Champion (1958, 1959) 4× Pro Bowl selection (1955, 1956, 1957, 1958) 1st-team All-Pro selection (1955) NFL 1950s All-Decade Team Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
Career NFL statistics
Rushing yards 4,045 Rushing average 4.2 Rushing TDs 40 Receiving yards 733 Receiving average 7.3 Receiving TDs 4 Stats at NFL.com
College Football Hall of Fame

Lino Dante "Alan" Ameche (March 1, 1933 – August 8, 1988), nicknamed "The Horse", was an American football player who played six seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League after winning the Heisman Trophy in college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was elected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons in the league. He is famous for scoring the winning touchdown in the 1958 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants, labeled "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

After emigrating to the United States in the late 1930s, his family returned for a year to Italy. The family then returned to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Alan attended Mary D. Bradford High School. Alan was a cousin of noted actors Don Ameche and Jim Ameche. With colleague (and former Colts teammate) Gino Marchetti, Alan Ameche founded the Gino's Hamburgers chain. The Baltimore-based Ameche's Drive-in restaurants were named for him. Ameche died in Houston, Texas.

College career

Ameche earned All-America honors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he played linebacker as well as fullback in single-platoon days. In four years as a Badger, he gained 3,212 yards, then the NCAA record, scored 25 touchdowns, and averaged 4.8 yards a carry. Ameche won the Heisman in 1954.

Ameche is one of six Wisconsin players whose number (35) has been retired, and one of six whose name and number appears on the Camp Randall Stadium façade as of 2008: fellow Heisman winner and current career rushing record holder Ron Dayne (33), Elroy Hirsch (40), Dave Schreiner (80), Allan Schafer (83), and Pat Richter (88) are the others. Ameche was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1967 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

NFL career

Ameche played fullback for the Baltimore Colts from 1955 until 1960. Named NFL Rookie of the Year in 1955, he was a four-time Pro Bowler (1955–58). He averaged 4.2 yards per carry over his career. He held the record for rushing yards in his first three NFL games until Carnell "Cadillac" Williams passed it in 2005.

Ameche may be best remembered for his role in the 1958 NFL Championship Game at Yankee Stadium, often cited as "The Greatest Game Ever Played." Ameche scored the winning touchdown for the Colts on a one-yard run in overtime as the Colts beat the Giants, 23-17. It was his second touchdown of the day as he also scored a TD on a 2 yard run in the second quarter.

Ameche finished a relatively short six-season NFL career with 4,045 rushing yards, 101 receptions for 733 yards and 44 touchdowns.

Death

Alan Ameche died of a heart attack at age 55 in Houston, a few days after undergoing heart bypass surgery. He is interred at Calvary Cemetery in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

See also

Biography portal

• 1954 College Football All-America Team

References

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External links

• Alan Ameche at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Alan Ameche at the Heisman Trophy
• New York Times Obituary for Alan Ameche