If it wasn't for the death of his father, at the tender age of seven, and his step-father's encouragement to play sports, Jim Hart might have never pursued a career in professional football. However, that one piece of fatherly influence led Hart to become a three-sport athlete in high school and he even lettered in basketball a total of three times. After becoming known for prowess on the football field, Hart was granted a scholarship to football for the Southern Illinois University Salukis where he played from 1963 to 1965.
Unfortunately, after going unnoticed throughout his collegiate stint at Southern Illinois and declaring himself into the 1966 NFL Draft, Jim Hart went undrafted. Luckily, his former coach Don Shroyer sent him an invite to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals that same year which led to Hart getting a backup quarterback position behind Terry Nofsinger. The following year, in 1967, Hart earned the starting quarterback position where he would start sixteen years out of the seventeen seasons he played with the team. While he did lead the team to multiple ten-plus win seasons, Hart was never able to get the team to the Super Bowl. The 4x Pro Bowler also developed a knack for throwing interceptions throwing a total of 247 in comparison to the 209 touchdowns he threw throughout his eighteen-season NFL career. Hart also threw an NFL record five interceptions in the1977 Pro Bowl. Eventually, Hart would call it quits after becoming a backup quarterback for the Washington Redskins for a single season in 1984.
Most of your favorite celebrities either studied acting in college or went straight from high school into a life of the arts. But, hey, not all of them. Some celebrities actually have advanced college degrees.
Turns out Mayim Bialik is just as much of a genius as the one she plays on The Big Bang Theory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.
Little known fact: Natalie Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was studying for her high school exams. She had two papers published in scientific journals while she was still in high school, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Psychology.
Before he was looking for answers on X-Files, David Duchovny was just trying to find the answers for English finals at Princeton University90. David graduated from Princeton in 1982 with a B.A in English. He continued to feed his love of literature by receiving a master’s degree in English Literature at Yale University. David was an excellent writer and poet. His work consistently received praise by his fellow classmates and teachers at Yale. His writing was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets.
Sigourney Weaver graduated from Stanford University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in Literature. It was while studying at Stanford that Sigourney realized her true passion in life was to become an actress. Shortly after graduation, she attended Yale for their well-known drama program. She would go on to receive a master’s in Acting from Yale University and become friends with fellow famous actress Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is considered one of the most successful actresses of all time. She is also one of the most highly educated. Before collecting an array of Oscars, Meryl collected diplomas. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1971. Meryl has a habit of being unsatisfied with impressive accomplishments as her acting career has shown, so she attended Yale University and earned a master’s degree in Acting.