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Draft memories: Bill Dudley
To be drafted into the National Football League is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thousands of players have experienced that joyful moment since the college draft was instituted by the NFL in 1936. However, only a select number of these drafted players excelled on the NFL gridiron to the point that earned them a bust in Canton. Over the years, Profootballhof.com has sat down and asked some Hall of Famers to relive their draft day.
“Looking for a Little Bit of Money. . .”
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| Bill Dudley on the run. |
One would have to excuse Hall of Famer Bill Dudley for not being overwhelmed after the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him as the first player in the 1942 NFL Draft.
“There was not a whole lot of hoopla about it,” Dudley recently told profootballhof.com.
“Bullet Bill” remembered how pro football was not big news in Virginia where he was born and raised as well as attended college. He recalled how the newspapers would often times not even publish the scores from the NFL games.
Football wasn’t first and foremost in Dudley’s mind either at the time. “There was a war coming on and I wanted to get a little bit of money until I went into the service,” he reminisced about why he signed a pro contract.
Dudley put his signature on a $5,000 contract with the Steelers at the College All-Star Game. He chuckled in a recent interview when asked if he received a bonus. However, he does recall asking for one. Co-owner Bert Bell told him they’d consider it if Bill had a good year. Following the season, the former All-America approached Bell to see if he’d earned his bonus. Bell simply told Dudley, who led the NFL in rushing as a rookie, that there are a lot of players on the team. The discussion of bonus never went any further.
While he had been sworn into the Army Air Corp in September of his rookie year, Dudley wasn’t taken into the service until after the season. His World War II military service forced him to miss two seasons but he returned to the Steelers in 1945. The following season, he won a rare “triple crown” that included his second league rushing title, along with him leading the NFL in interceptions and punt returns. A true team leader, Dudley also led the league in a fourth statistical category - lateral passes attempted – a statistic no longer compiled.
Hall of Famers Taken in the 1942 NFL Draft
Bill Dudley, HB, Pittsburgh Steelers - 1st round (1st overall)
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