Joseph Anthony Dudek is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player.

Dudek received national attention when he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

's 2 December 1985 issue as the magazine's pick for the Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 after he broke Walter Payton

Walter Payton

Walter Jerry Payton was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football...

's NCAA record for career touchdowns. Dudek finished ninth in the voting, the best result ever for a non-Division I player.

Dudek finished his collegiate career with ten school records, and holds the NCAA record for career 100-yard rushing games, (30) and games with two or more touchdowns (24). Plymouth State went 37-6 during his time there, reaching the Eastern College Athletic Conference

Eastern College Athletic Conference

The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...

 playoffs twice and earning their first-ever NCAA playoff appearance. To this date, Dudek's jersey is the only one that Plymouth State has retired.

Dudek played two games for the Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in 1987, rushing for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

Dudek was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 in 1997. As of December 2009, he lives in Auburn

Auburn, New Hampshire

Auburn is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,953 at the 2010 census. The town was called by WMUR News 9 as number one of "New Hampshire's Most Beautiful Towns" in July 2010. It was also named 18 in The New York Times' "Top 200 Towns To Raise a Family."-...

, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 with his wife and their two children, and works for Southern Wine & Spirits.