Leo Hart

Marion Leo Hart (born March 3, 1949) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Duke Blue Devils and was selected in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft. He played in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills.

According to the Duke University athletic department, "Leo Hart stands as one of the most decorated football players in Duke History. The strong armed quarterback virtually re-wrote the Duke and ACC record books during his playing days with the Blue Devils."

He is a member of the Duke Sports and North Carolina Sports Halls of Fame.

Biography Early life

Hart went to Grainger High School in Kinston, North Carolina. He played college football at Duke University, where he was a three time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection 1968-1970. He was selected as a Duke most valuable player 1969-1970 (as a junior and as a senior). While at Duke, Hart passed for a record 6,116 yards and held an ACC record 487 pass completions. At Duke Leo was a member of Phi Delt fraternity. who used the 59th overall pick to select him, Hart saw action in only one game during his 1971 rookie year. In that contest against the New Orleans Saints, Hart was on the field for just five plays, throwing one incomplete pass. He was signed first by the Los Angeles Rams as a free agent. The Rams subsequently waived him, however, and he was claimed off the waiver wire by the Buffalo Bills, for whom he saw action in the 1972 season. Star Buffalo running back O.J. Simpson was held to his worst game of the season, picking up just 26 yards on 14 carries in a 35–7 drubbing that was never close.

He remained on the Buffalo roster for the 1973 but never appeared in a regular season game for the team. Hart was inducted into the Kinston/Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2008 he became a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.