Who was the only Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to play in the NFL?

Byron White (June 8, 1917 – April 15, 2002) won fame both as a football halfback and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Born and raised in Colorado, White played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons and was one of the first big money players, making $15,000 in 1938, the year he led the league in rushing yards. Next, he practiced law for 15 years before his U.S. Supreme Court appointment.

Byron "Whizzer" White played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1938, took a year off to study as a Rhodes Scholar and played for the Detroit Lions in 1940 and 1941. WW II saw him serving in the Navy and after the war he went to Yale Law School instead of returning to the gridiron. He was a three time NFL All Pro selection and made the 1940's All Decade Team. In 1954, he was selected into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy nominated him to serve on the Supreme Court. He was never a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

He retired in 1993; he is the twelfth longest serving justice in Supreme Court history. White died in Denver, Colorado in 2002 at the age of 84.