John Cappelletti  John Cappelletti (born August 9, 1952) is a former American football running back. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers. Prior to his professional career, he attended Penn State, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1973. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said that Cappelletti was "the best football player I ever coached." Cappelletti's relationship with his younger brother Joey, who was stricken with leukemia, was chronicled into a book and made-for-TV movie. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cappelletti attended Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, a west suburb, played quarterback, and graduated in 1970. In the era before freshman eligibility, Cappelletti was a running back on the freshman team at Penn State in 1970. During his sophomore season in 1971, he played as a defensive back, as the Nittany Lions had two senior running backs who were taken early in the 1972 NFL Draft: Franco Harris (13th overall) and Lydell Mitchell (48th). As a senior tailback at Penn State in 1973, Cappelletti gained 1,522 yards on 286 carries scoring 17 touchdowns as the Nittany Lions rolled to an undefeated 12–0 season. He was awarded the 1973 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, the UPI College Football Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Award, the Chic Harley Award, as well as receiving All-America honors. In his two-year running-back career, Cappelletti gained over 100 yards in thirteen games and had a career total of 2,639 yards and twenty-nine touchdowns for an average of 120 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. His Heisman acceptance speech, where he dedicated his award to his dying brother Joey, is one of the most memorable in the history of college sports. The relationship between Cappelletti and his younger brother, who died of childhood leukemia on April 8, 1976, was made into a television movie in 1977 called "Something for Joey"; Cappelletti was played by Marc Singer. The movie was based on the book of the same name written by Richard E. Peck and chronicled the bond between the two brothers as Cappelletti supported his young brother, ill with cancer. During Cappelletti's senior season, Penn State played West Virginia in late October.