Chester "Chet" Edward Delano Hanulak (March 28, 1933- September 10, 2021) was a former American football player who won an NFL Championship playing running back for two seasons for the Cleveland Browns and a National Championship in 1953 with Maryland.[1] He is one of few players to win a state championship at the high school level, a National championship at the college level and an NFL Championship at the professional level.
Hanulak played football at Hackensack High School where he was on the 1949 State Championship football team.[3]
He was recruited to play on the Maryland Terrapins football team after his high school coach met the Maryland coach while both were attending a summer course.[4] Nicknamed "the Jet", Hanulak played football at Maryland from 1950 to 1954, where he was an All-American and helped the team win the 1953 National Championship (and the 1951 National Championship by some accounts). He played in the team's win in the 1952 Sugar Bowl, when the #3 Terrapins upset the #1 Tennessee Volunteers. He still remains atop Maryland’s all-time rushing list, averaging 8.13 yards a touch over his three seasons. He was also an All-Conference baseball player at Maryland in 1954.
He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns (24th overall) and helped them to win the 1954 NFL Championship over the Detroit Lions, scoring the final touchdown in the game. He missed the 1955 and 1956 seasons serving in the Air Force, as was common at the time, as a Personnel Officer at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC. He returned to the Browns for the 1957 seasons helping them to win the Eastern Conference and return to the NFL Championship Game, but this time they lost to the Lions.
He retired from football in 1958 and moved to Salisbury, MD to work for General Tire Co. He was a local entrepreneur and philanthropist. He also served as QB/RB coach for the Salisbury University Football Team from 1972-1978 and helped them with the 1976 Puerto Rico Bowl.
Hanulak was inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and named an ACC Legend in 2012
He died on September 10, 2021.[5][6]
References
- ^ a b "Chet Hanulak, HB at NFL.com". NFL.com. November 2013, webpage: Chet Hanulak.
- ^ Several selectors have retroactively named Maryland the 1951 national champion. At the time, the Associated Press and United Press wire services selected the championship team before the postseason bowl games.
- ^ "Chester Edward Delano Hanulak". Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ Powell, K. Adam. Border Wars: The First Fifty Years of Atlantic Coast Conference Football, p. 3. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 9780810848399. Accessed July 12, 2016. "Hanulak's story was an interesting one, for he was not highly pursued during his days at Hackensack High School in New Jersey."
- ^ "Maryland Mourns the Passing of All-Time Great Chet Hanulak". UMTerps.com. Maryland Athletics. September 11, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
- ^ "Chester Edward Delano Hanulak Obituary". The Daily Times. September 14, 2021. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2021.