2003 37c Early Football Heroes: Ernie Nevers

U.S. #3809
37¢ Ernie Nevers
Early Football Heroes
Issue Date: August 8, 2003
City: South Bend, IN
Quantity: 70,000,000
Printed By: Avery Dennison
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Serpentine Die Cut 11.5 x 11.75
Color: Multicolored

Ernest Alonzo Nevers was born on June 11, 1902, in Willow River, Minnesota, and went on to attend Stanford University, where he became one of the most celebrated all around athletes of his era. Nevers played as a fullback and was widely regarded as a triple threat man, known for his skill running, passing, and kicking the ball, talents that made him one of the finest football players of the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1925 Rose Bowl against Notre Dame, Nevers played the entire sixty minutes despite two broken ankles, having them tightly wrapped with pieces of an inner tube just to take the field.

Nevers began his professional career with the Duluth Eskimos before later joining the Chicago Cardinals, where he also served as head coach. In a 1929 game as the Cardinals' player coach, Nevers scored all forty of the team's points in a single contest, a performance so dominant that Bears coach George Halas is remembered for summing up the final score simply as Bears 6, Nevers 40. Nevers also found time to play professional baseball during his athletic career, further cementing his reputation as one of the most versatile athletes of his generation.

Nevers was inducted into the inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and later into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, and in 1969 he was named to the NFL's 1920s All-Decade Team. This stamp was issued alongside three others honoring Bronko Nagurski, Walter Camp, and Red Grange, together recognizing a formative era in American football when players like Nevers helped establish the sport's earliest legends.