Today’s card of the day is a 1954 Bowman card of Jerry Hilgenberg. Hilgenberg passed away on January 14 at age 92. Hilgenberg was a first-team All-American for the University of Iowa in 1953, and he was an assistant coach on the Hawkeyes team that won the National Championship in 1958.
The Cleveland Browns chose Hilgenberg in the 1954 NFL Draft, but he was also drafted by the U.S. Air Force, and he never played for the Browns. Instead, after his time in the Air Force, he took an assistant coaching position at Iowa, and he coached there from 1956 to 1963. One of the players he coached was his younger brother, Wally Hilgenberg, who went on to play sixteen seasons at linebacker for the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
Jerry Hilgenberg’s sons, Joel Hilgenberg and Jay Hilgenberg, also played in the NFL. Joel played ten seasons, mostly at center, for the New Orleans Saints. Jay, also a center, played eleven seasons for the Chicago Bears, one for the Cleveland Browns, and one for the Saints. Interestingly, both brothers played for the Saints in 1993, splitting time at center. Both also retired from football after the 1993 season.
Jerry Hilgenberg’s card, number 95, is one of the short prints in the 1954 Bowman set. It appears that the set was printed on four sheets, with the third sheet, holding cards numbered 65 through 96, being printed in far smaller numbers than the others. You can see the configuration of the sheets on the Gallery’s 1954 Bowman virtual uncut sheet page.
