Paul Des Jardien Paul Raymond " Shorty " Des Jardien ( August 24 , 1893 – March 7 , 1956 ) was an American football , baseball and basketball player . He played for the University of Chicago where he was selected as the first - team All - American center in both 1913 and 1914 and also pitched a no - hitter for the baseball team . He later played professional baseball for the Cleveland Indians and professional football for the Cleveland Indians ( 1916 ) , Hammond Pros ( 1919 ) , Chicago Tigers ( 1920 ) and Minneapolis Marines ( 1922 ) . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955 . Biography . Early years . Des Jardien was born in Coffeyville , Kansas , and moved to Chicago as a child . He attended Chicago ' s Wendell Phillips Academy High School before enrolling at the University of Chicago . University of Chicago . Des Jardien enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1911 and played on the Chicago Maroons ' football , baseball , basketball , and track & field teams . He earned 12 varsity letter s , played on Western Conference championship teams in both football and baseball , and became known as one of the best all - around athletes ever produced by the University of Chicago . While attending the University of Chicago , Des Jardien was 6 feet , 5 inches tall , and weighed 190 pounds . His teammates called him " Shorty . " In baseball , Des Jardien was a pitcher , but also played at first and third base . The University of Chicago Magazine wrote : " Des Jardien at third base fields well , and adds strength by his spirit . All in all , the tall young man is one of the most excellent athletes Chicago has had in years . " In May 1914 , he threw one of the first no - hitter s in Western Conference history and also struck out 14 Iowa Hawkeyes batters in the game . Des Jardien gained his greatest fame playing at the center position for Amos Alonzo Stagg ' s Chicago Maroons football teams from 1912 to 1914 . Des Jardien played at the center position on both offense and defense , was considered " the mainstay of his team on defense , " and was also known for his ability as a long punter . During Des Jardien ' s three years as Chicago ' s center , the Maroons compiled a record of 17 - 3 - 1 , including an undefeated 7 - 0 record and Western Conference championship in 1913 . After his sophomore year in 1912 , Des Jardien was selected as a first - team All - Western player . Stagg praised Des Jardien as a " spectacular " player and " as flashy a center as I have seen in many years . " In naming Des Jardien to his All - Western team in 1912 , E . C . Patterson in " Collier ' s " wrote : " Des Jardien is not great of bulk , at least not horizontally . He is tall and rangy and remarkably active . His usefulness is accentuated when it is seen that some of Coach Stagg ' s forward pass tricks center around him . " In his junior and senior years of 1913 and 1914 , Des Jardien was selected as a first - team All - American . He was also chosen by his teammates as the captain of the 1914 football team . In 1914 , Walter Camp wrote about Des Jardien : " He is the best center in the country — steady , reliable , absolutely dependable for his share of line work on attack , and a power on defense . " Professional baseball and Asian tour . In January 1915 , " The New York Times " reported that Des Jardien had agreed to play professional baseball for the Chicago Cubs upon graduating from the University of Chicago in June 1915 . According to the report , Des Jardien declined to sign a contract with the Cubs to avoid endangering his amateur status . The report described Des Jardien as one of the best pitchers in the Western Conference , a right - hander with a good curve ball . Instead of playing Major League Baseball in the summer of 1915 , Des Jardien traveled to Asia with the University of Chicago baseball team . The team played 15 games , winning 12 , while traveling to the West Coast of the United States . The team sailed from San Francisco on the and arrived in Honolulu , Hawaii in early September 1915 . The team spent ten days in Hawaii and played games against teams from the U . S . Army and the St . Louis Athletic Club and teams made up of Chinese and Portuguese players . The team next sailed to Japan . On September 24 , 1915 , the Chicago team played a double header in front of a crowd of 20 , 000 people in Tokyo . Des Jardien pitched both games , defeating Waseda 5 - 3 and the Keio University 4 - 1 . Des Jardien hit a home run and struck out 11 batters in the game against the Keio . Des Jardien served as an assistant coach for the University of Chicago ' s basketball , baseball and track teams upon returning from Japan in January 1916 . In early May 1916 , he signed to play Major League Baseball with the Cleveland Indians . Indians manager Lee Fohl said at the time , " I think I will make him a good pitcher . He already has learned to put more on his fast ball while his control is almost perfect . " He made his debut on May 20 , 1916 , pitching one inning and allowing one hit , one base on balls , and two earned runs . Des Jardien did not pitch another game in Major League Baseball . In the summer of 1917 , Des Jardien played semi - professional baseball with the Mohawks in the Chicago League . Professional football and World War I . In September 1916 , Des Jardien was hired as the football coach at Oberlin College . With almost every veteran player missing from the football team due to a fraternity expulsion , Des Jardiens ' 1916 Oberlin team failed to win a game for the first time in the program ' s history and scored only 13 points throughout the season . In 1916 , Des Jardien also played for Peggy Parratt ' s Cleveland Indians football team in their first and only season as a professional football team . Parratt built a team of all - stars Des Jardien . The Indians lost two games to Jim Thorpe ' s Canton Bulldogs , played the Massillon Tigers to a scoreless tie , and closed the season with three wins against the Columbus Panhandles , Detroit Heralds and Toledo Maroons . He also reportedly played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs and Fort Wayne Friars , During the 1916 - 1917 basketball season , Des Jardien played professional basketball with the Pine Village , Indiana team . Des Jardien served in the United States Army during World War I . In the fall of 1917 , Des Jardien played on an Army football team at Fort Sheridan that included a number of former All - Americans including Albert Benbrook , Ernest Allmendinger , James B . Craig and Dolly Gray . In 1918 , he was placed in charge of a German prison camp in Paris . After returning from France , Des Jardien played professional football in 1919 for the Hammond Pros . The 1919 Hammond Pros also featured George Halas at wide receiver . The Hammond Pros played most of their games in Chicago ' s Cub Park , now known as Wrigley Field . In December 1919 , P . J . Parduhn , the president of the Hammond football team , was arrested on a charge of issuing bogus checks , after a complaint was lodged by Des Jardien and Milt Ghee . Des Jardien and Ghee dropped the charges when Parduhn agreed to make good on the payment . After the end of the football season , Des Jardien signed in December 1919 to play professional basketball with the Red Crowns team from Whiting , Indiana . The Red Crowns were backed by Standard Oil and were considered the fastest team west of Buffalo . The signing of Des Jardien was expected to draw crowds from throughout the Midwest . In 1920 , he played for the Chicago Tigers in the inaugural season of the National Football League , then known as the APFA . Des Jardien played in all eight games for the 1920 Tigers , including seven as the starting center . The Tigers compiled a record of 2 - 5 - 1 in 1920 , and Des Jardien was selected as a second - team All - APFA player . In October 1922 , Des Jardien signed to play semi - professional football for the Ironwood Legion team from Ironwood in Michigan ' s Upper Peninsula . In an October 1922 game against Bessemer , Des Jardien kicked punts of 50 , 55 and 65 yards . He also appeared in one game for the Minneapolis Marines in the 1922 NFL season . Later years . After retiring from athletics , Des Jardien worked as a manufacturing executive in Los Angeles . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in July 1955 . He died at his home in Monrovia , California in 1956 from a cerebral thrombosis . He was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery . In 2006 , Des Jardien was posthumously inducted into the University of Chicago Hall of Fame .