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Wisconsin Football: Rams to L.A. Recalls NFL Career of Elroy Hirsch

By Jim Oxley

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A former Wisconsin football player was a star for the L.A. Rams

News recently broke that the St. Louis Rams will be moving from St. Louis, their home since 1995, back to Los Angeles, where the franchise was based from 1946 to 1994. The news that the Rams will be in L.A. brings to mind the NFL career of former Wisconsin football player Elroy Hirsch, who became a star at both the collegiate and professional level.

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Elroy Hirsch, or “Crazylegs,” as he would come to be known, played just one season for the Wisconsin Badgers in 1942, but in that one season, Crazylegs became a star. The running back helped Wisconsin to an 8-1-1 season as he totaled 786 rushing yards, 390 receiving yards and 226 passing over the course of the year, presenting a true triple threat to opponents.

Hirsch also helped author a Wisconsin win over the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes, rushing for more than 100 yards and throwing a touchdown pass in a 17-7 victory. Crazylegs was named a third-team All-American on the season and the Badgers finished the year ranked No. 3 in the country.

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During the season, Hirsch picked up the “Crazylegs” moniker after a long touchdown run against Notre Dame that caused Francis Powers of the Chicago Daily news to write that “his crazy legs were gyrating in six different directions, all at the same time; he looked like a demented duck.”

While Crazylegs was a Wisconsin football player for just the 1942 season, that “Crazylegs” name is still ever-visible at UW-Madison, with a short street near Camp Randall Stadium named after him, his No. 40 jersey retired at UW and his nickname used for the athletic department’s annual fundraiser, the Crazylegs Classic.

Hirsch may have spent just one year at Wisconsin, but his football career was far from over. He joined the U.S. Marines in 1943 as the U.S. entered World War II, and was transferred to the University of Michigan. He continued his stellar athletic career at Michigan, where he lettered in football, basketball, track and baseball.

Hirsch was the No. 5 overall pick in the 1945 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, but decided instead to go the All-America Football Conference, where he had been drafted by the Chicago Rockets. Hirsch spent three injury-ridden seasons with the Rockets before the AAFC merged with the NFL, and Hirsch went to the Los Angeles Rams.

As he had done in college, Hirsch again became a star.

L.A. Rams head coach Clark Shaughnessy had the insight to move the speedy Crazylegs to the outside, making him the first-ever full-time flanker in the NFL. The former running back quickly became one of the best receiving threats in the NFL.

Over nine seasons with the Rams, Hirsch totaled 387 receptions for 7,029 yards and 60 touchdowns. The college running back had just 687 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in his NFL career. Hirsch was a two-time AP First Team All-Pro.

Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers /

Wisconsin Badgers

In 1951, Hirsch and the L.A. Rams took home the NFL Championship in a season that saw Hirsch lead all of the NFL in reception yardage and touchdowns. His 1,495 reception yards that season set an NFL record that stood for 19 years. His 1951 season totals of 66 catches, 1,495 yards, and 19 touchdowns were compiled in a 12-game season.

Following his NFL career, Hirsch was named to the NFL 1950s All-Decade Team, and the NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time team. He became the first former Wisconsin football player to be enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in 1968, and remains one of two Badgers in the Hall (Mike Webster is the other). Hirsch was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1964, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974, and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.

After football, Hirsch was an actor for a time, and later worked in the front office for the Rams before taking a job as Wisconsin’s athletic director, a position he held from 1969-1987.

Hirsch passed away of natural causes in 2004 at the age of 80 while living in an assisted living facility in Madison.

Including Crazylegs, nine total former Wisconsin football players spent time on the L.A. Rams roster. They are:

Next: Top 30 Games in Wisconsin Football History

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