Les Horvath Leslie " Les " Horvath ( October 12 , 1921 – November 14 , 1995 ) was an American football quarterback and halfback who won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Ohio State University in 1944 . Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman , an award given to the best college football player in the United States . The school retired his jersey number 22 in 2001 . Horvath grew up in a suburb of Cleveland , Ohio and became a standout high school athlete despite his small stature . He entered Ohio State in 1939 on a work scholarship , but tried out for and made the football team the following year . He played as a reserve halfback on a 1942 team coached by Paul Brown that won Ohio State ' s first - ever national championship . Horvath graduated that year and moved to Ohio State ' s dental school . In 1944 , however , acting Ohio State football coach Carroll Widdoes asked Horvath to rejoin the team , taking advantage of a World War II - era rule allowing graduate students with remaining eligibility to play . Horvath agreed , and helped lead the Buckeyes to a 9 – 0 record and a second - place showing in the AP Poll . He won the Heisman and was named an All - America n after the season . Horvath graduated from dental school in 1945 and served as a dental officer in the U . S . Navy for two years . Following his discharge , he played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams in 1947 and 1948 before being released and signing with the Cleveland Browns in 1949 . The Browns won the All - America Football Conference championship that year . Horvath retired from playing in 1950 and moved to Los Angeles to practice dentistry . He lived there for the rest of his life . Horvath was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and the Ohio State athletics hall of fame in 1977 . Early life . Horvath was born to Hungarian immigrants in South Bend , Indiana in 1921 , but his family soon moved to Parma , Ohio , a suburb of Cleveland , Ohio . He attended Parma Senior High School starting in 1936 and played on the track , basketball and football teams until the 11th grade . He decided to switch schools because he felt his basketball teammates were not taking the sport seriously . Horvath ' s family relocated , and in 1938 he enrolled James Ford Rhodes High School in Cleveland , one of Parma ' s rivals . Playing as a quarterback for the Rhodes Rams , Horvath guided the team to seven straight wins in 1938 , but the team lost to West Technical High School for a chance to be the Cleveland Senate League ' s nomination to play in the city championship . He graduated in 1939 . College career . After graduating , Horvath attended Ohio State University on a work scholarship , but managed to make the school ' s football team in 1940 . Horvath was small for a football player – he weighed just 160 pounds – but was a quick runner and had a strong arm . Ohio State ' s football team was a disappointment in 1940 , however , finishing the season with a 4 – 4 win – loss record under head coach Francis Schmidt . Schmidt was fired after the season and replaced by Paul Brown , an Ohio high school coach who had guided Massillon Washington to a series of undefeated records and state championships . Brown simplified Ohio State ' s offense , but imposed a level of discipline and organization that had been absent under Schmidt . Horvath was a reserve halfback in the Buckeyes ' single - wing offense in 1941 , when the team posted a 6 – 1 – 1 win – loss – tie record and finished second in the Big Ten Conference standings . He played in many games , but senior fullback Jack Graf and senior halfback Tom Kinkade got most of the carries for Ohio State . Despite his small frame , Brown recognized Horvath ' s potential as a senior in 1942 and made him a regular starter at halfback beside Paul Sarringhaus and fullback Gene Fekete . While Sarringhaus and Fekete were Ohio State ' s main offensive weapons , Horvath averaged eight yards per carry in a victory over Pittsburgh and scored two touchdowns and passed for 109 yards in a win over Illinois in Cleveland . Ohio State was ranked first in the country in the AP Poll early in the season , but fell in the rankings after a loss to Wisconsin in October . The team won the rest of its games , however , including a 21 – 7 victory over arch - rival Michigan at the end of the season . Horvath passed to Sarringhaus for a 35 - yard touchdown and caught another 32 - yard touchdown pass from Sarringhaus in the Michigan game . Ohio State ' s 9 – 1 record put it on top of the Big Ten standings and in the final AP Poll , giving the school its first - ever national championship . Horvath expected his college football career to be over in 1942 . He finished his undergraduate degree that year and enrolled in a graduate program at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry . Ohio State ' s football program , meanwhile , struggled in 1943 after Paul Brown and many of its best players entered the military during World War II . Carroll Widdoes , an assistant under Brown , was appointed the acting head coach and led the team to a 3 – 6 record . The following year , Widdoes asked Horvath to return to the team , taking advantage of a wartime rule that allowed college programs to use graduate students if they had not exhausted their four years of college eligibility . Widdoes promised Horvath a leading role as the team ' s left halfback , a level of prominence he had been denied under Brown . Horvath agreed to come back and be a veteran leader for a team that was composed mostly of freshmen because of older players ' service in the war . Horvath had a breakout season in 1944 , gaining 669 rushing yards and 1 , 200 all - purpose yards as the Buckeyes turned in a 9 – 0 record and finished second in the national polls . The highlights of Horvath ' s season included scoring the winning touchdown in Ohio State ' s annual matchup against Michigan . Calling all of Ohio State ' s offensive plays , he was nicknamed the " playing coach " . Horvath was named a first - team All - America n by sportswriters and the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten after the season . He was voted by his teammates as Ohio State ' s Most Valuable Player . He also won the Heisman Trophy , an award given each year to the best college football player in the country . Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman , and he remains the only Heisman winner not to have played football the previous season . In early 1945 , Horvath played in the annual East – West Shrine Game , a college all - star game . While at Ohio State , he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity . Military and professional career . After graduating from Ohio State ' s dental school in 1945 , Horvath signed to play for the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League . Horvath , however , applied for a commission to join the U . S . Navy and was sworn in as an junior lieutenant that August . He was sent at first to Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois for training , where he practiced dentistry and acted as an assistant to Paul Brown , who had entered the Navy and was coaching the base ' s football team . Horvath served in Hawaii and coached a football team there that won a service national championship . He later traveled on assignment as far as China as a naval dental officer . Before his discharge from the Navy in 1947 , there was speculation that Horvath may join the Cleveland Browns , a new team coached by Paul Brown in the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Horvath was still under contract with the Rams , however , and joined the team , which by then had moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles . Led by quarterback Bob Waterfield , Los Angeles finished the season with a 6 – 6 record in 1947 . Horvath rushed for 68 yards and had three receptions . Horvath had 118 yards of rushing the next season , when the Rams finished with a 6 – 5 – 1 record and took third place in the NFL West division . Horvath , who worked as a dentist in the offseason in Los Angeles , was released by the Rams in 1949 . He signed with the Browns a week later , closing his dental office and moving to Cleveland to reunite with Brown . Horvath , who was used primarily on defense early in the season , had an 84 - yard fumble return for a touchdown in a game against the New York Yankees , and ran for two touchdowns in a November game against the Chicago Hornets . Cleveland finished the season with a 9 – 1 – 2 record and won a fourth straight AAFC championship . The AAFC disbanded after the season and the Browns were absorbed by the NFL , but Horvath decided to quit football to practice dentistry back in California . Later life and death . Horvath got married after the 1949 season to Shirley Phillips , an airline hostess , and moved back to Los Angeles . He coached little - league football and practiced dentistry in Glendale , California , a major Los Angeles suburb , for the rest of his life . His wife died in 1973 , and he got remarried two years later to Ruby Aylor , whom he met in Hawaii while on vacation in 1974 . They were married for 20 years , until Horvath ' s death in 1995 of heart failure . Horvath was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969 and became a member of Ohio State ' s athletics hall of fame in 1977 . Ohio State retired his number 22 uniform in 2001 , six years after his death . He was inducted into the Parma Senior High School athletics hall of fame in 2007 .