Merlin Olsen
Merlin Olson was a prominent NFL player back in the day. He was drafted by the LA Rams and retired as an LA Ram. Merlin won the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1962, made First-Team All-Pro five times, but never won a ring. However, he was a legend in LA until the very end.
As you can imagine, he started playing football pretty early. However, the strange part of his career is that during and after his retirement from the NFL, he took to acting. He appeared in three films and over a dozen shows. Merlin passed away in 2010 from cancer.