A standout football and baseball player at Illinois College for three seasons that went on to play professional baseball. A star fullback, he was the Little 19 football scoring champion in 1937 with 48 points in five conference games. As a member of the Ogden Reds, he was elected as recipient of the President’s Trophy in the Pioneer League for the league’s outstanding pitcher. He was also named the league’s outstanding pitcher by the Howe News Bureau in Chicago and the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. He led the International League with 21 wins in 1941 for Syracuse in the Class C League and later was the winning pitcher in the deciding game that same year in the Little World Series. Also played Class AA baseball for the Syracuse franchise and was with the Cincinnati Reds from 1947-50.