American inventor, metallurgist, automotive pioneer, entrepreneur and industrialist, Elwood Haynes developed and built one of the first automobiles. For anyone, that would be more than enough for a lifetime achievement—but he was responsible for so many more invaluable contributions that endure to this day.

Haynes was born on October 14, 1857, in Portland, Indiana, the fifth of ten children of Jacob M. Haynes and Hilinda S. Haines Haynes. His family was of English descent.

Both of Haynes' parents were dedicated Presbyterians and outspoken prohibitionists and educated their children from a young age to avoid liquor. His mother was the founder of a local Women's Temperance Movement Union. His paternal grandfather Henry Haynes was a gunsmith and mechanic, and tutored Haynes about metallurgy. In 1866, the family moved from their two-room house in Portland into the countryside outside of town where they purchased a larger home to better accommodate their growing number of children.

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William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger became the first professional football player in 1892, when he was paid a $500 bonus (about $13,500 in today's money) after scoring the winning touchdown for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (4-0). A touchdown counted for 4 points at the time.

William was born in 1867 in the then-small city of Minneapolis. William's father was Major Christopher B. Heffelfinger and his mother was Mary Ellen Totton. Both his parents were born in Pennsylvania. Maj. Heffelfinger came by riverboat to Minneapolis, eventually joining the Union Army at the outset of the Civil War, was wounded at Gettysburg, and after the war started the family shoe manufacturing business and dabbled in real estate. During William's lifetime, the Heffelfinger family rose to prominence in Minneapolis.

As a boy, William Heffelfinger was nicknamed "Pudge". He played baseball and football in high school. Occasionally, during his junior and senior years o...