Captain, U.S. Army Air Corps
Champion On Any Field
Ken Kavanaugh was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas and graduated from Little Rock Central High School. He became an All-American end at LSU, was named All-Pro for the National Football League Chicago Bears and became a World War II bomber pilot who completed 30 missions. He was a leader, a star and a hero.
Bernie Moore, LSU head football coach at the time, said Kavanaugh "was a pass completer rather than a receiver, simply because he'd catch passes no one else could get to." Kavanaugh was a big man, and he used his height to excel in both football and baseball at LSU from 1936-39.
He was named Most Valuable Player of the Southeastern Conference and a consensus All-American in 1939 after leading the nation in receptions and receiving yards. He was also awarded the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as the nation's lineman of the year. Additionally, he finished seventh that year in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Leo Bird was the other half of LSU’s aerial attack, and when the Tigers defeated Holy Cross in the famous 1939 game, fans chanted “We want Kavanaugh.” But Kavanaugh humbly said, “Thank you for the reception, but the boy you want up here is Leo Bird.” Bird joined him and said, “Kavanaugh has been catching passes before I came here, and he’ll keep on catching them. He’s the best pass receiver in the world.”
After college, Kavanaugh signed a minor league baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and a contract to play football with the NFL's Chicago Bears with whom he won the 1941 NFL Championship. He and the Bears repeated as NFL Champions in 1942.
Only World War II could stop Kavanaugh on the grid iron. When called to duty, he became a pilot in the mighty Eighth Air Force's 490th Bombardment Group and 851st Bombardment Squadron, flying 30 missions in the dangerous skies over Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
After the war, Kavanaugh re-joined the Bears for eight seasons, catching passes from quarterbacks Sid Luckman and Johnny Lujack. He was truly a hero on and off the field.
After he retired from playing, he went on to coach for the Bears, and, he then spent 45 years in the New York Giants organization as a coach and scout. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Kavanaugh retired from football in 1999 and passed away in 2007.
His son, Ken Kavanaugh Jr., also played at LSU as a tight end. He wrote a book about his father’s life and service titled “The Humility of Greatness.”