Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley " Tom " Harmon ( September 28 , 1919 – March 15 , 1990 ) was a star player in American college football , a sports broadcaster , and patriarch of a family of American actors . As a player , he won the Heisman Trophy in 1940 . Early life . Harmon was born in the Harmon ' s family home at 118 South Weston Street in Rensselaer , Indiana , the youngest child of Louis A . and Rose Marie ( née Quinn ) Harmon , who had relocated from Livingston County , Illinois around 1900 . In 1924 , the family moved to Gary , Indiana . He attended Horace Mann High School in Gary , Indiana , graduating in 1937 . While at Horace Mann High School , Harmon was already an outstanding athlete . In addition to 14 varsity letters , he was twice named All - State quarterback , Captain of the basketball team , and as a senior , won the 100 yard dash and the 200 yard low hurdles at the State Finals in Indianapolis , Indiana . Harmon played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 , where he majored in English and Speech , hoping for a future career in broadcasting , and won the Heisman Trophy his senior season . He made his name as a tailback in the single - wing formation , and also excelled as a kicker . Harmon rushed for 2 , 134 yards during his career at Michigan , completed 100 passes for 1 , 304 yards and 16 touchdown s , and scored 237 points . During his career he played all 60 minutes 8 times . He also was a member of the varsity basketball team for two years . In his final football game ( against Ohio State ) , Harmon led the Wolverines to a 40 – 0 victory , scoring three rushing touchdowns , two passing touchdowns , four extra point s , intercepting three passes , and punting three times for an average of 50 yards . In an unprecedented display of sportsmanship and appreciation , the Ohio State fans in Columbus gave Harmon a standing ovation at game ' s end . No other Wolverine player has been so honored , before or since . He led the nation in scoring in both 1939 and 1940 ( a feat that remains unmatched ) and was elected to the College Football All - America Team both years . His career points per game average of 9 . 9 stood as an NCAA record for ten seasons . In 1940 , he won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award both given to the outstanding college football player of the year . While on campus , he was an active member of the Michigan Alpha Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity . Years later , the national fraternity leadership established the Harmon - Rice Award in his honor ( the Rice name in the award honored Grantland Rice ) that is presented each year to the most outstanding Phi Delt collegiate athlete in the nation . In 2007 , Harmon was ranked # 16 on ESPN ' s Top 25 Players In College Football History list . Also , Harmon was ranked # 5 on the Big Ten Networks ' program " Big Ten Icons " , honoring the greateast athletes in the Big Ten Conference ' s history . During the Notre Dame vs . Michigan game in 2013 , the starting quarterback , Devin Gardner was given the number 98 in honor of Harmon . NFL draft . Harmon was taken by the Chicago Bears with the first selection in the 1941 NFL Draft . Instead he opted to play with the New York Americans of the rival American Football League . After graduating from college he had a brief career as an actor , starring as himself in the biopic " Harmon of Michigan " . He appeared occasionally in films throughout the forties and fifties . World War II . During World War II Harmon enlisted as a pilot in the Army Air Corps on November 8 , 1941 . Early in 1943 , Harmon parachuted into the South American jungle when his plane flew into a tropical storm . None of the other crewmen bailed out or survived . He was the object of a massive regional search operation once his plane was reported missing . Four days later he stumbled into a clearing in Dutch Guiana . He transferred to single seat fighters . In October that year , while on an escort mission accompanying a flight of bombers , his P - 38 was shot down by the Japanese during a dogfight and he was forced to bail out into Japanese - occupied China where he was later rescued by anti - Japanese Chinese guerillas . Harmon was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his actions with the 449th Fighter Squadron . He saved his silk parachute and it was later used as the material for his wife ' s wedding dress . Pro football career . From 1946 to 1947 Harmon played football professionally with the Los Angeles Rams , but wartime injuries to his legs limited his effectiveness . He focused his professional career as planned on being a sports broadcaster on radio and television , one of the first athletes to make the transition from player to on - camera talent . In 1954 , Harmon was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame . After football . Harmon narrated the film " A Glimpse of Greatness – The Story of Ken Hubbs " , which chronicles the life of the late Chicago Cubs second baseman . For several years in the 1970s , starting with its introduction , he was the TV spokesman for Kellogg ' s Product 19 cereal . His 10 - minute broadcasts were a staple of the ABC and ( later ) American Information Radio networks . He was also seen on KTLA , Channel 5 , Los Angeles . In the early 1980s he handled play - by - play duties for the Oakland Raiders pre - season telecasts . Personal life . Harmon married actress and model Elyse Knox in 1944 . Former Wolverines teammate Forest Evashevski was his best man and later became godfather of his son Mark . Harmon and his wife settled in California after he was demobilized . They had three children : Kristin ( b . 1945 ) , Kelly ( b . 1948 ) and Mark ( b . 1951 ) . Kristin was previously married to the late Ricky Nelson and her children include Tracy Nelson and twins Matthew and Gunnar Nelson , who perform as the rock and country music act Nelson . Mark Harmon followed his father ' s footsteps into college football as a starting quarterback for the UCLA Bruins before becoming an actor and is married to actress Pam Dawber . Death . Tom Harmon died of a heart attack on March 15 , 1990 in Los Angeles , California , at age 70 .