Tom Harmon

Tom Harmon
Harmon c. 1940
No. 98
PositionHalfback
Personal information
Born(1919-09-28)September 28, 1919
Rensselaer, Indiana, U.S.
DiedMarch 15, 1990(1990-03-15) (aged 70)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight197 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High schoolHorace Mann
(Gary, Indiana)
CollegeMichigan (1938–1940)
NFL draft1941: 1st round, 1st overall pick
Career history
Awards and highlights
  • Heisman Trophy (1940)
  • Maxwell Award (1940)
  • AP Athlete of the Year (1940)
  • Unanimous All-American (1940)
  • Consensus All-American (1939)
  • Chicago Tribune Silver Football (1940)
  • 3× First-team All-Big Ten (1938–1940)
  • Michigan Wolverines No. 98 retired
  • Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
Career NFL statistics
Rushing yards542
Rushing average5.1
Rushing touchdowns3
Receptions15
Receiving yards288
Receiving touchdowns3
Military career
Allegiance United States
Branch U.S. Army Air Forces
Years of service1942–1945
Rank Captain
Unit449th Fighter Squadron
Battles / warsWorld War II
Awards Silver Star
Purple Heart
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), nicknamed "Old 98",[1] was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster.

Harmon played college football as a halfback for the Michigan Wolverines from 1938 to 1940. He led the nation in scoring and was a consensus All-American in both 1939 and 1940 and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the AP Athlete of the Year award in 1940. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

During World War II, Harmon served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces. In April 1943, he was the sole survivor of the crash of a bomber he piloted in South America en route to North Africa. Six months later, while flying a P-38 Lightning, he was shot down in a dogfight with Japanese Zeros near Jiujiang in China.

After the war, Harmon played two seasons of professional football for the Los Angeles Rams and had the longest run from scrimmage during the 1946 NFL season. He later pursued a career in sports broadcasting and was the play-by-play announcer for the first televised Rose Bowl in the late 1940s and worked for CBS from 1950 to 1962. He later hosted a 10-minute daily sports show on the ABC radio network in the 1960s and worked as the sports anchor on the KTLA nightly news from 1958 to 1964. He also handled play-by-play responsibility on broadcasts of the UCLA Bruins football games in the 1960s and 1970s.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference CFHOF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).