As we drift into the last lazy weeks of summer I offer to the readers of the Chronicle this query:

Which two NFL quarterbacks played quarterback at the same college, and were both drafted by the NFL in the same year?

   One of these gentleman was the NUMBER ONE pick of that year’s draft.  The other was the 55st player picked in that year’s draft.  The college program they played for was not particularly known for its passing game, nor, for that matter, particularly known for playing football.   Both had solid, though unspectacular careers as pros.

Hints:  This marks the 50th anniversary of that draft

            The gent who was picked first is, arguably, less well known than his teammate.

            The gent who was picked first was picked before such NFL Hall of Famers as Lenny Lyles, Jim Taylor, and Alex Karras.

            Neither of the two college teammates are in the NFL Hall of Fame themselves

            The school these quarterbacks attended concurrently was and is one of the elite academic institutions in the country (so that would probably rule out Ohio State, Mr Blunt).

            One of these guys led his team to an NFL championship in the 60’s and to the NFL championship game the following year.  He is NOT the one chosen first in that years draft.

OK......?

I’ll

           Just

                      Let

                             You

                                     Guys

                                              Think

No fair googling, Frank?

No asking Dad’s either.

Ready?

OK.

King Hill

Frank Ryan

Both from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

King Hill had a decent carrier...bounced around a bit...I think he may have also done the punting on some of his teams.  He played for the Chicago Cardinals who became the St Louis Cardinals, who became the Phoenix Cardinals.  Hill was the #1 pick in 1958.

Frank Ryan was the star quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the 1960’s.  He, along with Jim Brown, Gary Collins, and Louisville’s own, Ernie Green, kept the Browns in the championship conversation for much of that decade.  I guess Ryan was a real egg head, a real intellectual, and considered not playing professional football in favor of a more academic career.

To my knowledge he is the only NFL quarterback to earn a doctorate in Philosophy.   In summary, Wikopedia states that Ryan’s Ph.D dissertation was entitled “A Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc.”

...but I don’t know if I totally agree with that.