Mental Floss

The Quick 10: The Non-Football Careers of 10 Heisman Winners

By Stacy Conradt

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Amid controversy on Saturday, Auburn's Cam Newton was the 74th person to win the Heisman Trophy. Whether he'll make it in the NFL remains to be seen - some of the most promising Heisman winners failed to get drafted, played a season or two before getting the axe, or eschewed a bone-crunching professional football career for something a little less, um, painful. Here are 10 career options for Cam Newton if a career in the NFL doesn't work out.

2. Pro baseball player. Although Charlie Ward didn't pursue a professional MLB career post-Heisman, someone else did - 1950 winner Vic Janowicz. He passed up the NFL to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but after two lackluster seasons with them, Janowicz came crawling back to football… and they took him. He played pro ball with the Washington Redskins until 1956, when he was in a car accident that ended his career. He later ended up in a government job, serving as an administrative assistant to the Ohio state auditor until his death in 1996.

3. FBI Agent. Davey O'Brien, the fourth-ever Heisman winner, did play a couple of seasons in the NFL after graduating from Texas Christian University. He could have continued - he led the NFL in passing yards as a rookie and got a sweet raise from the Philadelphia Eagles for his performance. So what cut his pro football career short? An offer from the FBI, of course. He worked there for 10 years, including as a firearms instructor at Quantico.

4. Counterfeiter. Granted, Billy Cannon, the player who took home the '59 trophy, played with the American Football League for nine years and the NFL with one year after that. But it's his post-football dalliances that made the most headlines.

In financial trouble after accruing some serious gambling debts and making bad real estate investments, Cannon got involved with counterfeiting in a big way. He printed millions in $100 bills and kept them in ice chests buried in the yard of one of his rental properties. He saw 2.5 years in prison for that, which really affected his orthodontist practice when he got out (seriously). He's 72 now, and as of last year, was working as a dentist at the Louisiana state pen (better known as Angola).

5. Playground Equipment Vendor. Eric Crouch, a Nebraska Cornhusker Heisman winner nine years ago, played in the NFL for a couple of years. It was a pretty ho-hum career, though - he left the St. Louis Rams before he ever played in a game, then signed with the Kansas City Chiefs only to be allocated to NFL Europe. He was signed with the All-American Football League in 2008, but when the League went bust later that year (well, sort of - the league says they're returning next year), Crouch finally called it quits. He now runs a playground and recreation equipment company in Omaha and does a little football analysis for Versus and a local station.

Anyway, Tom Harmon was an actor and voice-over artist, but he also had an amazing military career, earning the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. He actually played for the

St. Louis

Los Angeles Rams for a few years post-WWII, but his wartime injuries really hampered his speed and agility.

7. Owner of a The Athlete's Foot store. The 2003 Heisman winner Jason White failed to get drafted at all in 2005 and didn't even get a tryout for quite some time after. When he finally did get a call from the Kansas City Chiefs, they decided not to sign him. The Tennessee Titans eventually signed him, but White then decided to retire due to his weak knees. He now owns an Oklahoma and Oklahoma State memorabilia store and, yes, a The Athlete's Foot. He says he even occasionally does shoe fittings himself.

8. Financial Advisor. The 1992 winner Gino Torretta had an NFL career, but only saw gameplay once - a 1996 Seahawks vs. Raiders game. Despite throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass, he never played in another game and retired the following year. He found a job at Wachovia as a Senior Financial Advisor and now works at an asset management company.

9. CEO. You could say the 1958 Heisman winner has been pretty successful - not only did Pete Dawkins take home the trophy, he was a Rhodes Scholar, a Brigadier General and a partner at Lehman Brothers. He got out long before the recent bust, though - he became CEO of Primerica Financial Services in 1991.

10. Sportswriter and foam-rubber salesman. Seems like a natural progression, doesn't it? That's what first Heisman winner Jay Berwanger did. Although he was selected first in the NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, Berwanger decided not to go that route, allegedly because they wouldn't pay him the amount of money he wanted. He instead became a part-time sportswriter for the Chicago Daily News, served in the military for a couple of years during WWII, and then became a foam-rubber salesman. That inspired him to start his own business, Jay Berwanger Inc., which makes plastic strips for cars, farm equipment and trunks to this day. Berwanger reportedly used his Heisman as a doorstop.