Les Horvath

Horvath was born to immigrant parents from Hungary in 1921, in South Bend, Indiana; his family soon moved to Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. 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 at 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 Western Conference representative 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. He finished his undergraduate degree that year and enrolled in a graduate program at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry. He also won the Heisman Trophy, an award given each year to the best college football player in the country. 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 a lieutenant j.g. 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 Brown, who had entered the Navy and was coaching the base's football team. Before his discharge from the Navy in 1947, there was speculation that Horvath might join the Cleveland Browns, a new team coached by Brown in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). 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, 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. 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 married Shirley Phillips, an airline hostess after the 1949 season, 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. 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. ==Awards and honors==

• 1944 Heisman Trophy winner • 1944 First-team All-American • College Football Hall of Fame inductee (class of 1966) • Ohio State "Block O" Varsity Hall of Fame inductee (class of 1977) • Parma Senior High School Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2007) • Number retired by Ohio State (#22) ==References==