John Jacob "Jay" Berwanger (March 19, 1914 – June 26, 2002) was an American football halfback born in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in 1935 (the following year the award was renamed the Heisman Trophy); the trophy is awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding college football player. Berwanger had been a star at the University of Chicago, where he was known as the "one man football team".^[1]

In a 1934 game against the University of Michigan, Berwanger left his mark on Michigan center Gerald Ford in the form of a distinctive scar beneath the future President's left eye.^[2] Berwanger also competed in track & field for the University of Chicago, setting a school decathlon record in 1936 that stood until 2007.^[3]

In 1936, Berwanger became the first player to be drafted by the National Football League (NFL) in its inaugural draft. The Philadelphia Eagles selected him but did not think they would be able to meet his reported salary demands of $1,000 per game.^[4] They traded his negotiating rights to the Chicago Bears for tackle Art Buss.^[5] Berwanger initially chose not to sign with the Bears in part to preserve his amateur status so that he could compete for a spot on the U.S. team for the 1936 Summer Olympics in the decathlon.^[6]

After he missed the Olympics cut, Berwanger and Bears' owner George Halas were unable to reach an agreement on salary; Berwanger was requesting $15,000 and Halas' final offer was $13,500.^[7] Instead, he took a job with a Chicago rubber company and also became a part-time coach at his alma mater.^[8] Berwanger later expressed regret that he did not accept Halas' offer.^[7]

After graduating, Berwanger worked briefly as a sportswriter and later became a manufacturer of plastic car parts. He was very modest about the Heisman and used the trophy as a doorstop in his library. The trophy was later bequeathed to the University of Chicago Athletic Hall of Fame, where it was on display as of 2007^[update]. There is also a replica of the Heisman on display in the trophy case in the Nora Gymnasium at Dubuque Senior High School. He is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.

Berwanger died after a lengthy battle with lung cancer at his home in Oak Brook, Illinois on June 26, 2002 at the age of 88.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• University of Chicago News Office: Jay Berwanger obituary
• Jay Berwanger at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Jay Berwanger at the Heisman Trophy
• Jay Berwanger at Find a Grave

Anthony LaPaglia
LaPaglia at the 2012 AACTA Awards
Born	(1959-01-31) 31 January 1959 (age 53) Adelaide, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Gia Carides (1998–present)

Anthony M. LaPaglia^[1] ( /ləˈpɑːljə/; born 31 January 1959) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and for his portrayal of Simon Moon on the TV show Frasier for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[2] He is also known for his role as Barry "The Blade" Muldanno in The Client.

Early life[link]

LaPaglia was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Maria Johannes (née Brendel), a secretary, and Gedio "Eddie" LaPaglia, an auto mechanic and car dealer.^[1][2] LaPaglia's mother was Dutch and his Italian father immigrated from Bovalino, Calabria at the age of eighteen.^[2] His younger brother, Jonathan LaPaglia, is also an actor, and his other brother, Michael, is a car wholesaler in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]} LaPaglia attended Rostrevor College.

LaPaglia first began his venture into dramatic art in his late teens, when he enrolled in an acting course at the South Australian Castings Agency (SA Castings) in Adelaide. The two and half year course was to be supplemented with a further three months, which would have included a "boot camp" and a trial listing with SA Castings. After completing one and half years of the course, LaPaglia left Adelaide for Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

LaPaglia's earliest credit was a 1985 part in an episode of the television series Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. His first feature film was Cold Steel, in 1987, followed that same year by the title role of Frank Nitti, in a telemovie Nitti: The Enforcer. LaPaglia had a supporting role as a mobster, in the minor hit Betsy's Wedding (1990). This was followed by roles in the vampire/Mafia story Innocent Blood (1992), the comedy thriller So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), the legal thriller The Client (1994), and the comedy Empire Records in 1995. That same year, LaPaglia took over the role of Jimmy Wyler, lead character in the TV series Murder One, during its second and final season.

During 1997–98, LaPaglia appeared in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge, with the Roundabout Theatre Company and later received a Tony Award for his portrayal of the protagonist, Eddie Carbone. Before the show opened, LaPaglia was sent a script for the pilot of The Sopranos and met its creator, David Chase, to discuss the role of protagonist Tony Soprano.^[3] However, various factors, including his Broadway role, prevented LaPaglia obtaining the monumental role. LaPaglia also played Tito Merelli in Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor on Broadway. "'The Sopranos' thing didn’t work out...and of course it did work out perfectly, because the right person ended up with the role. You can’t imagine that show without James Gandolfini.” LaPaglia did, however, later play (in an uncredited 2002 cameo) an actor in a Sopranos-style TV show-within-a-film, in the comedy movie Analyze That. (In 2007, The Sopranos reciprocated, by featuring LaPaglia's brother Jonathan in a film-within-the-TV show.)

Spike Lee cast LaPaglia as a New York police detective in Summer of Sam (1999).

During 2000–04, LaPaglia appeared in eight episodes of the sitcom Frasier, including the finale, playing Daphne Moon's brother Simon.^[2] The role won him an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series".

LaPaglia made his debut in an Australian production with Looking for Alibrandi (1999), followed by a role as a Sydney police detective in the critically acclaimed Ray Lawrence film Lantana (2001).

In 2002, LaPaglia co-starred as a fire captain opposite Sigourney Weaver in The Guys, a film about New York firemen who died in the World Trade Center. He also played the role onstage, rotating with Bill Murray and others. “We did it as a tribute to the men,” said LaPaglia. “I’ve been so lucky to do it, to be part of this experience. But I can’t go back to that morning or watch the video. It’s too painful."^[4] He also played fictional Australian actor Anthony Bella (who played Nicky Caesar in the fictitious series 'Little Caesar') in the comedy movie Analyze that, but was uncredited in his role.

In addition to playing the central character in Without a Trace during 2002–09, LaPaglia co-wrote an episode entitled "Deep Water".^[5]

In 2009, LaPaglia played the part of Roger East, a real life Australian journalist, in the political thriller Balibo, about the killing in 1975 of five Australian journalists by the Indonesian Army in the town of Balibo, East Timor. The opening scene depicts East's own summary execution, during the Indonesian invasion.^[2][6]

In October 2011 it was announced that LaPaglia would join the cast of Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained in which he would portray an Australian character once again.^[7]

In February 18, 2012 it was announced that LaPaglia will stars in the ABC drama pilot Americana.^[8]

Personal life[link]

LaPaglia currently lives in Santa Monica, California, USA. He has said that he adopted an American accent to help him get acting work after moving to the US, and has now lost his Australian accent completely.^[9] Some critics and viewers have noted his occasional dialect slips.^[10]

LaPaglia's first marriage was to actress Cherie Michan. He is currently married to actress Gia Carides, whom he met at a party;^[2] the two starred in the 1994 (Ben Lewin) Australian movie Paperback Romance (a.k.a. Lucky Break) and married in 1998.^[1] Their daughter Bridget was born in January 2003.

Football[link]

In the 1980s, LaPaglia was a goalkeeper in the National Soccer League, playing for Adelaide City and West Adelaide.^[2] LaPaglia is now part owner of A-League club Sydney FC, and has been flying from California to Sydney to attend their matches since their inception in 2005. He was the narrator and executive producer of The Away Game, a critically acclaimed television documentary exploring the experiences of Australian footballers in Europe.

LaPaglia underwent a hip replacement in the summer of 2004, a result of his days playing football. He has fully recovered and has even played for a couple of amateur clubs in California.^[11] He plays occasionally with Hollywood United, an amateur organization of which he is club president, with other luminaries such as Frank Leboeuf, Vinnie Jones, Steve Jones (of the Sex Pistols) and others.

LaPaglia has a minority shareholding in the International Goalkeepers Academy. The Academy was founded and is operated by James Fraser, who represented the Australian national team leading up to the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

LaPaglia has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program. He played in a charity football match in 2007 to raise funds for Southern California wildfire relief.^[12]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Anthony LaPaglia at the Internet Movie Database
• Anthony LaPaglia at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anthony LaPaglia at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Anthony LaPaglia at the TCM Movie Database
• Anthony LaPaglia Bio at CBS – Without a Trace
• ABC TV Enough Rope Interview with Andrew Denton
• Anthony LaPaglia speaks to The Riviera Times