The play is among the most famous in sports and has been shown millions of times: Alan Ameche plunging in for the winning touchdown in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a.k.a, “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

However, there was much more to Ameche’s story. A Heisman Trophy winner, he always will be an icon in Wisconsin. In the pros, he played with the storied Baltimore Colts and likely would have joined him many teammates in the Hall of Fame if not for injuries.

And he had one of the greatest nicknames of all time: “The Horse.”

Long-time Wisconsin writer Dan Manoyan details his achievement in a new book, Alan Ameche: The Story of “The Horse.” It is a must-read if you’re a Wisconsin Badgers fan, and the passages about the Colts and the NFL in the 50s provide an interesting historical perspective.

Here’s my Q/A with Dan:

How did you get the idea for this project?

I give full credit to the Big Ten Network. I had met Ameche back in the 70’s when I was a cub reporter at the Kenosha News, but honestly hadn’t thought of him in years. One night I’m watching the Big Ten’s series on icons and Otto Graham from Waukegan is showing. My first thought was to wonder when the Ameche showing would be. It turns out he didn’t make the cut for the top 20, which was a little surprising to me.

It made me curious if anyone had ever written a book about Ameche. When he left Wisconsin, he had won every award known to man, including the Heisman and owned every NCAA rushing record. He went to the Colts and won the 1955 Rookie of the Year award and led the NFL in rushing his rookie season. I tracked down his widow, Yvonne Ameche-Davis and she was receptive to the idea. There were a few bumps in the road, but we crossed every bridge and got it done.

What did/does Ameche mean in Wisconsin?

Well certainly at the time he was playing, Ameche was THE man in Wisconsin. He turned around moribund programs in high school (Kenosha Bradford) and at Wisconsin and was a huge part of the Colts championship reign of the 50s. His 1950 high school team is still considered by many to be the greatest Wisconsin team of all time. He took Wisconsin to its first ever Rose Bowl in 1953, a month after he was married to his junior high sweetheart. He was one of the first building blocks for the Colts’ dynasty and Johnny Unitas’ appearance put Baltimore over the top.

Talking to old timers in Kenosha, especially a lot of the Italian-Americans, many were Colts fans in the 1950s because of Ameche. Also, that was before Vince Lombardi transformed the Packers into a power. Ameche wanted to return to Wisconsin after his playing days were over, but his business ventures were so successful, that wasn’t possible. Even though his philanthrophy extended to Kenosha and the University of Wisconsin, I think the fact that he didn’t return to Wisconsin hurt his legacy. In my mind, and I say this in the book, of the homegrown talent produced in this state, he was the greatest athlete ever.

What was it like to track down and talk to some of the old Colts?

What a thrill! Unfortunately, the seance with Johnny Unitas fell through, but I still talked with four Hall of Famers, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore and Raymond Berry. Donovan’s reputation for spinning a yarn is legendary. Marchetti was Ameche’s best friend (and business partner) on the Colts, so he shared some great insight. Raymond Berry had the best quote…he said Ameche was “the first Italian I ever met.” Berry also told me the Colts would have won a couple more championships if Weeb Ewbank hadn’t been so stubborn and encouraged Ameche to return to the team in 1961.

But perhaps the best interview involved Moore, who was also the hardest guy to pin down. I literally called Lenny 10 times and each time he said the same thing…”Man, I’ll do it, but I just ain’t feeling it today.” So on the 10th call I just started shooting questions at him. It was one of the best interviews I’ve ever had. Lenny bared his soul about everything from Big Daddy Lipscomb to what it was like to be a black man playing in the NFL in the 1950s. I can honestly say, Lenny didn’t hold back. He loved his teammates, especially Ameche, Unitas and Berry, but he deeply regretted that the social climate of the time prevented them from getting to know each other better. I felt his interview was so powerful that I decided to make it a separate chapter.

Why did Weeb Ewbank not like him? Would his career have been different with another coach?

That is the question. To do this day, nobody has the answer to that unfortunately. Donovan said Ewbank resented Ameche because he was smarter than he was. It could be Ameche signed for the princely sum of $15,000 a year, which was a ton of money for 1955 and probably a lot more than Ewbank was making. Raymond Berry told me the Colts could have won two more titles if they had had Ameche running the ball, but the Colts offense became lopsided passing the ball because of Unitas’ greatness and the lack of an effective power runner in Ameche’s absence.

Ameche had a great rookie season, winning the NFL rushing title (including a 79-yard touchdown run against the Bears the first time he touched the ball as a pro). But things changed when Unitas arrived the following season and Ewbank built the Colts offense around him.

Ameche was vocal about his bitterness in his last few years with the Colts. I do think Ameche’s career would have played out differently if he had played for a different coach. In later years he made no secret of the fact that he wished that he played for Don Shula, who replaced Ewbank with the Colts. Ameche loved the way Shula used his fullbacks like Norm Bulaich with the Colts and Larry Csonka, later with the Dolphins. Not surprisingly, the college coach Ameche most admired was Woody Hayes.

What is his place/legacy in sports history? Has his career been overlooked?

Unfortunately, Ameche will never get the credit he deserves. There is one reason for that, the brevity of his professional career. It’s telling that one of the most frequently asked questions about Ameche is “Why is he not in the NFL Hall of Fame?” Quite simply, he only played six years. He played in the Pro Bowl 5 of those 6 years, played on two championship teams, led the league in rushing as a rookie and scored the winning touchdown in the “Greatest Game Ever Played.”

If it wasn’t for his dysfunctional relationship with Ewbank and the fact that his business was taking off, I’m sure he could have come back from his Achilles’ Heel injury in 1960 and played 10 years in the league.

As for his legacy in Wisconsin, consider this: Ron Dayne’s number was hung in Camp Randall’s Ring of Honor before Ameche’s. Considering Ameche won the Heisman 45 years before Dayne, that’s pretty much unforgivable. Also, Ameche never turned down Wisconsin for anything. He donated the money for a new weight room at one point and even gave his Heisman Trophy to Wisconsin. There are two statues outside of Camp Randall: Barry Alvarez and Pat Richter. I’m not saying both men aren’t deserving, but what about the school’s first Heisman winner???

Even in Kenosha he doesn’t get the respect I think he deserves and that’s probably because he chose to live in Philadelphia after his playing career. But Ameche donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kenosha charities, including a gymnasium for a boys club and money to keep the city’s Catholic High School’s athletic programs afloat.

Again, I think he was the greatest home-grown athlete Wisconsin has ever produced. Will he ever be recognized as such? I doubt it.