One of the longest-serving Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States is Byron “Whizzer” White, who is a former professional football player. He first played with the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Steelers) before attending the University of Oxford. Because of the outbreak of World War II, he returned to the U.S. and attended Yale Law School in 1939, but temporarily paused his studies again to play for the Detroit Lions from 1940 to 1941. White was one of the highest-paid players in the NFL and said to have spent his earnings to pay for his tuition fees. He graduated with high honors in 1946.