The football pros — four Cavemen in the pro record, and Marian's one

1921 – 2022

The count: Pro-Football-Reference's high-school register credits Mishawaka High School with four professional players, none active. Each was tested individually for this section; all four verify.

George Gulyanics (1921–1990): Born and died in Mishawaka. An Indiana All-State fullback in 1938 — and the 1937 South Bend Golden Gloves welterweight champion of the boxing entry above. After Jones County Junior College and Army service he played a 1946 season at quarterback for the Akron Bears, Chicago's minor-league affiliate, then six seasons as the Bears' halfback and punter (1947–1952): 63 games, 2,081 rushing yards at 4.1 a carry, 19 rushing and 21 total touchdowns, 52 catches for 600 yards. In 1949 he led the entire NFL in punting at 47.2 yards a punt — still the Bears' single-season record in the club's own record list — and they called him "Little Bronko," for Nagurski.

Achille "Chick" Maggioli (1922–2012): Born and died in Mishawaka; an all-state player who graduated from Mishawaka High in 1941. The war scattered his college career across three rosters — Indiana in 1942, Notre Dame in 1943–44 under a Marine Corps training program (a reserve halfback on Frank Leahy's 1943 national champions in the main account, a starter in 1944; one biographical account makes him a 1943 starter, and the difference stands), and Illinois in 1946–47, where he played on a Big Ten champion and a Rose Bowl winner. Drafted by Washington in 1946, he played for Buffalo of the AAFC in 1948, the Detroit Lions in 1949, and the Baltimore Colts in 1950, intercepting eight passes in his final season. He is in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and Mishawaka High School's athletic hall of fame.

Lou Mihajlovich (1925–1994): Detroit-born and a Mishawaka High School product in the pro register. At Indiana University he was a second-team All-Big Nine end in 1947. He played nine games for the Los Angeles Dons of the AAFC in 1948 and three for the Green Bay Packers in 1954 — twelve professional games in all.

Tom Ehlers (born 1952): A three-sport Caveman — football, basketball, track — who became a three-year starting linebacker and the 1974 team captain at Kentucky, where he held the school record for tackles in a game. Drafted in the thirteenth round by Philadelphia in 1975, he played for the Eagles through 1977 as a special teams captain under Dick Vermeil, then for Buffalo in 1978; knee and neck injuries ended his career by 1980. He is in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and lives in Mishawaka.

Marian's one, and Penn's at anchor: Pro-Football-Reference credits Marian with a single professional: Zander Horvath, who set Marian's rushing records as a senior (2,215 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns, in the diocesan paper's account), walked on at Purdue to become its top running back, and played fifteen games for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2022. Penn's two — tackle Mike Rosenthal (89 games for the Giants and Vikings, 1999–2006) and guard Bryan Mattison (2010–2012) — stand in Penn Township's record and are anchored here only because the register files them under a Mishawaka postal city.

Sources:

1. Pro-Football-Reference — the Indiana high-school register (Mishawaka 4, Marian 1, Penn 2) and the Mihajlovich and Horvath player lines.
2. Pro Football Archives — Gulyanics: the full season line, Akron 1946, the Bears years, 2,081 yards and 113 punts.
3. Chicago Bears record list and 1967 media guide — the 1949 punting average of 47.2 as the club's single-season record.
4. Chick Maggioli biography — the three colleges, the 1943–44 Notre Dame seasons, Buffalo/Detroit/Baltimore, the eight interceptions, the halls of fame.
5. Indiana Football Hall of Fame — Tom Ehlers: the Mishawaka, Kentucky and professional course.
6. Today's Catholic, April 2022 — Horvath's Marian rushing records and the Purdue walk-on course.