NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 10 - Jerry Stalcup, East

The 10th greatest player on our list likely would have finished higher if pro football was the big money operation that it is today.

Jerry Stalcup had one of the greatest college football careers of any player to play in the Big Eight/NIC-10. He then walked away from a solid pro football career that had several more years in it to give his family a foundation.

At East, Stalcup was a standout of good but not great E-Rabs teams in 1954 and 1955. Even though he was just a honorable mention all-conference fullback his senior year, he'd impressed scouts enough that Wisconsin offered him a scholarship.

Stalcup joined the Badgers at an opportune time. Milt Bruhn had just taken over Wisconsin. The Badgers struggled Stalcup's freshman year, going 1-5-3. Jerry moved into the starting lineup as a linebacker/offensive lineman in 1957 and was a fixture for his final three seasons.

Wisconsin went 20-7-1 with Stalcup as a starter. The 1959 season was storybook for both the Badgers and Stalcup. Wisconsin went 7-3, winning the extremely competitive Big Ten with a 5-2 mark to qualify for the school's first Rose Bowl trip since 1953.

Stalcup came up big in the season's biggest moments. In the season opener, he recovered an onside kick to preserve a 16-14 win over Stanford. Against Ohio State, he was in on a big hit that knocked out the Buckeyes' star running back Bob White in a 12-3 win. The year's biggest win was over No. 2 ranked Northwestern. In that game, Stalcup had 16 tackles and the game-clinching interception with 50 seconds to play. 

Defensive stats from that era are non-existent, which is a shame because in individual game stories, Stalcup had a handful of games with 20 or more tackles. If those numbers were available, he'd likely be near the NIC-10 record of 513 tackles that Mike Junkin of Belvidere recorded at Duke in the 1980s.

Stalcup was taken in the sixth round of the 1960 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He spent the 1960 with L.A., playing 12 games, starting one and getting his only career NFL/AFL interception. In 1961, he chose to sign with the Denver Broncos of the upstart AFL. He started eight games in 1961 and nine out of 14 games in 1962. 

In 1963, at the age of 25, he chose to walk away from pro football. He'd married his high school sweetheart in 1960 and having to spend half his year out west playing for minimal pay had lost its luster. Instead, he returned to Rockford to go into the insurance business. After a short time in that, he was recruited to return to East as defensive coordinator. He'd spend most of the next four decades as a teacher and coach both at the high school and semiprofessional level.

No. 10 - Jerry Stalcup, East
Year	Level	Team	Accomplishments	Points
1954	High School	East	Losing Team	0
1955	High School	East	Honorable Mention All-Conf.	0.5
			Winning Record	1
1956	College	Wisconsin	Player on Power 5 Freshman Team	2
1957	College	Wisconsin	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1958	College	Wisconsin	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1959	College	Wisconsin	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			All-Big Ten	1
			Bowl Game	1
1960	NFL	Rams	Sixth Round Pick	5
			Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
1961	AFL	Broncos	Played in AFL	3
			Starter	1
1962	AFL	Broncos	Played in AFL	3
			Starter	1
Total				41.5

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players