George Ratterman

George William Ratterman (November 12, 1926 – November 3, 2007) was an American professional football quarterback who played in the All-America Football Conference and the National Football League. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1944 and played college football at the University of Notre Dame from 1944 through 1946, primarily as a backup to quarterbacks Frank Dancewicz and Johnny Lujack. He was the last of only four students in Notre Dame history to earn letters in four different sports—football, basketball, baseball, and tennis. Coach Frank Leahy called him "the greatest all-around athlete in the history of Notre Dame."

Ratterman began his professional career with the Buffalo Bills of the AAFC, playing from 1947 to 1949, when the league merged with the NFL. In his first year, 1947, at the age of 20, he threw 22 touchdown passes, setting a professional football rookie record that stood for more than fifty years until it was broken by Peyton Manning in 1998. He continued his career with the New York Yanks of the NFL in 1950 and 1951 and the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.