Logo of a college football team, the Northwestern Wildcats, used from 1959 until 1967. The team was a charter member of the Big Ten conference, beginning play there in 1896, and despite being part of one of the country’s top gridiron leagues, has never been considered a football powerhouse. The fact that the school has always had high academic standards has surely hurt their chances of recruiting top prospects over the years, but despite that many former Wildcat alumni have gone on to play in the NFL, including Otto Graham, Chris Hinton, Ray Wietecha, Irv Cross, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson and Steve Tasker.