Everyone knows Lou Gehrig as one of the greatest baseball players to ever live. What most people don’t know is that Gehrig also briefly played football while attending Columbia University. Gehrig is seen practicing at Columbia above in 1922.

Lou went to Columbia on a football scholarship to pursue a degree in engineering. Before his first semester began he played summer professional baseball under an assumed name, which was not legal.

Gehrig was discovered after playing a dozen games for Hartford in the Eastern League. As a result, he was banned from intercollegiate sports during his freshman year.

During the 1922 season, his sophomore year at Columbia, he was allowed to participate in sports again and Gehrig played right half back for the Columbia Lions football team.

The 1922 Columbia and Cornell program, seen above, lists the future Yankee Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, although he is not pictured in the program.

Gehrig played for the Columbia baseball team in 1922 as well. It was while playing baseball at Columbia that Gehrig was discovered and signed to the Yankees the following year, 1923. He never graduated from Columbia.

Columbia programs from the 1922 season are highly collectible due to Gehrig’s affiliation with the team.