Levy, Len "Butch"

Leonard Bernard Levy

During Levy's football career at the University of Minnesota, Butch's team won a national championship. Levy turned pro and played for the Cleveland Rams who won an NFL Championship while he was on the team. After a terrific college and professional football career, Levy turned to professional wrestling and became one of the most feared wrestlers in the 1950s.

Birth and Death Dates:
b. February 19,1921 - d. February 9, 1999

Career Highlights:
Levy was an outstanding lineman at Minnesota for three seasons. In 1939, the Gophers struggled and had a record of 3-4-1. The next two seasons, however, they finished 8-0-0. The 1941 team was recognized as national champions as they outscored their opponents 186-38, and Levy was named AP All-Western Conference first team.
Selected in the fourth round (27th overall) of the 1942 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Rams, Levy did not play professional football until 1945 as he spent three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1945, Butch played in seven games for the Rams, who finished the regular season with a record of 9-1-0 and defeated the Washington Redskins 15-14 in the NFL championship game.
Butch remained with the Rams the following season when they moved to Los Angeles. That year, he played in ten games and the Rams finished with a record of 6-4-1, second in the NFL West.
In 1947, Levy moved to the newly-formed All-American Football Conference and played for the Los Angeles Dons. He spent two seasons with the Dons, appearing in 25 out of a possible 28 games for the club, which finished 7-7-0 both seasons. In 1948, Levy was named All-AAFC first team. He retired from professional football after that season, having played a total of 42 professional games -- 17 in the NFL and 25 in the AAFC.

Origin:
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Career Dates:
Levy played guard at the University of Minnesota from 1939-1941. He then played guard and tackle in the NFL with the Cleveland Rams in 1945, for the Los Angeles Rams in 1946, and the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football Conference from 1947-1948.

Physical description:
6'0", 256 pounds

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References:
The Encyclopedia of Football, by Roger Treat (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1976 -- 14th Edition)
Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League, edited by Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999)
encyclopedia of JEWS in sports, by Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, and Roy Silver (New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1965)