Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb enlisted in the military and played football as USMC Camp Pendleton, so if you think the teams of the NFL lightly recruited him, you would be right!

The 300-pound Lipscomb would, however, sign with the Los Angeles Rams in 1952 and would win the starting Right Defensive Tackle job in 1953 but went on to greater success when he was traded to the Baltimore Colts.  "Big Daddy" would help anchor the Colts to the 1958 and 1959 NFL Championships, and not so coincidentally, he was named a First Team All-Pro for his efforts.  Lipscomb went to Pittsburgh in 1961 and went to his third Pro Bowl in 1962, but that would be his final year in Pro Football as sadly, his career ended when he died of a heroin overdose in May of 1963. 

We can only imagine how much more he would have accomplished had he been focused, clean, and, more importantly, alive, but what he did on the gridiron cannot be overlooked.