John David Crow

John David Crow Sr. (July 8, 1935 – June 17, 2015) was an American professional football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback playing for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago / St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers from 1958 to 1968.

After his playing career, Crow became an assistant football coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama, serving under coach Bear Bryant from 1969 to 1971 He moved to the NFL as an assistant with the Cleveland Browns in 1972, and then the San Diego Chargers in 1974. In December 1975, Crow was hired as head football coach and athletic director at Northeast Louisiana University—now the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He coached the football team for five seasons, from 1976 to 1980, compiling a record of 20–34–1. He remained as athletic director until 1981. Crow returned to his alma mater, Texas A&M, in 1983 as an assistant athletic director. He was promoted to athletic director in 1988 and served in that capacity until 1993.

Crow was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1976. A street on the campus of Texas A&M University adjacent to Kyle Field is named after him.

In 2009 Erle and Alice Nye commissioned a twice life size bronze statue of Crow, and donated the $250,000 monument to Texas A&M University, sculpted by Steven Whyte.

A native of Marion in Union Parish in North Louisiana, Crow was raised to the west in Springhill in northern Webster Parish near the Arkansas state line. He graduated in 1954 from Springhill High School.

Under coach Bear Bryant at Texas A&M, Crow was not one of the "Junction Boys," since he was a freshman in 1954, Bryant's first season, and was thus ineligible to play on the varsity under NCAA rules at the time. In 1956, Crow was part of the first Aggie football team to beat the University of Texas at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.

In Crow's senior season in 1957, the Aggies opened with eight wins and were ranked first in the AP poll. The Aggies lost their last three games after uncertainty over whether head coach Bear Bryant would be leaving. Although injured early in the season, Crow was able to play in seven games in his senior season. He rushed for 562 yards on 129 carries, with six touchdowns. Crow also caught two passes and passed for five touchdowns. While playing on defense, he intercepted the ball five times. During the 1957 season, Bryant famously quipped, "If John David Crow doesn't win the Heisman Trophy, they ought to stop giving it."

Crow was named am All-American, and won the Heisman Trophy on December 3 over runner-up Iowa tackle Alex Karras, followed by Michigan State halfback Walt Kowalczyk. Crow claims not to have understood the importance of the award until sponsors flew his family and him to New York City for the presentation. He was the first Aggie to win the Heisman, and he was the only one of Bryant's players to win. Bryant then left for Alabama shortly after Crow received the Heisman.