Widely regarded as one of the best football players in the first half of the 20th century, he played as a fullback and was a triple-threat man known for his talents in running, passing, and kicking.
In the same game he subsequently set another NFL record by scoring six rushing touchdowns in a single game against the Chicago Bears, a record that remained unequaled until the 2020 season in which New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara also accomplished the feat, scoring six touchdowns against the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas Day.
In 1920, the family moved to a ranch and fruit farm in the Rincon Valley section of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California.
[20] After the 1923 football season was over, Nevers demonstrated his overall athletic ability by also starring for Stanford's basketball, baseball and track teams.
[21][22] He was rated as the Pacific coast's best player in both football and basketball, the best college pitcher, one of the leading track performers, and "a crack swimmer" as well.
In April 1924, Stanford's assistant director of physical education, Harry Maloney, called Nevers "a freak genius" who also excelled in the classroom.
Under head coach Pop Warner, the 1925 Stanford football team won the Pacific Coast Conference championship with a 7–0–1 record in the regular season before losing to Notre Dame and the famous Four Horsemen backfield in the 1925 Rose Bowl.
"[24] During the summer of 1925, Nevers worked for the Starrett Meat Company in Guerneville, California, and pitched for the town's baseball team.
He appeared in 12 games, 11 as a pitcher, for the 1926 Browns, compiling a 2–4 win–loss record and a 4.46 earned run average (ERA) in 74-2/3 innings pitched.
On August 13, 1926, in the highlight of Nevers' 1926 season, he pitched a complete game victory over the Detroit Tigers, giving up eight hits and two runs against a lineup that included Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Heinie Manush, Charlie Gehringer, and Harry Heilmann, and Bob Fothergill who hit .367 that year.
[9] At the end of his rookie season, Nevers was a consensus pick for the fullback position on the 1926 All-Pro Team, receiving first-team honors from Collyer's Eye magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
[29] Nevers was sold by the Browns for $7,500 to the Mission Bells, a Pacific Coast League baseball team in San Francisco, in late May 1928.
[51] In March 1928, Nevers announced that he would not return to professional football that fall, opting instead to serve as an assistant coach to Pop Warner at Stanford.
[54] In February 1929, Nevers resigned from his coaching job at Stanford to return to the Mission baseball club in the PCL.
Highlights of Nevers' 1929 season include the following: At the end of the 1929 season, Nevers was a consensus pick as the fullback on the 1929 All-Pro Team, receiving first-team honors from the Green Bay Press-Gazette, based on the return of 16 ballots sent to the team owners, managers, and sports writers of clubs in the NFL,[62] Collyer's Eye magazine,[63] and the Chicago Tribune.
Highlights of his seasons included: At the end of the 1931 season, Nevers was again selected (for the fifth time in five years in the NFL) as the fullback on the All-Pro Team, receiving first-team honors from the Green Bay Press-Gazette based on the returns of ballots sent to each club in the league as well as sports writers and officials,[74] the United Press,[75] and Collyer's Eye.
Afterward, Nevers announced his retirement as a player, stating that he was getting out while he was "still in one piece," and expressing a desire to pursue a career as a coach.
[79] Nevers was welcomed to the Easton, Pennsylvania, campus with a parade and street celebration as classes were suspended for the day and Lafayette students anticipated the school's "return to 'Big Time' position" of previous years.
[100] While Nevers was stationed at a Marine base in Santa Barbara, California, his wife became ill with pneumonia; she died in a San Francisco hospital in July 1943.
[103] In October 1944, Nevers returned to San Francisco after spending 10 months in charge of ground personnel with a squadron in the South Pacific.
[106] At the end of February 1945, Nevers agreed to serve as an assistant coach with the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference upon his discharge from the Marine Corps.
[107] As of mid-May 1945, Nevers was awaiting his discharge papers and had become associated with a trucking company pending the commencement of his coaching duties with the Rockets.
After retiring from football, Nevers lived in Strawberry and then Tiburon, both in Marin County, California, and worked in public relations and sales promotion for a wine association and a wholesale liquor company.