He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1953 and the Maxwell Award in both 1952 and 1953.

Lattner starred in both football and basketball at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where he graduated in 1950.

He initially considered the University of Michigan because head coach Bennie Oosterbaan ran the single wing offense, a scheme that fit Lattner well at Fenwick.

[4] In 1954, Lattner was selected in the first round of the 1954 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and played with them for one season before entering the United States Air Force for two years.

[6] Lattner coached for a period in the late 1950s, at St. Joseph's High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the University of Denver.

While driving home from work in the early morning of November 17, 1963, he spotted a fire in an apartment building on the West Side of Chicago.

[11][12][13][14] Lattner routinely rented out or loaned his Heisman Trophy to exhibitions, tailgates, and other events, often with the proceeds donated to charity.

Another grandson, Ryan Smith, also graduated from Fenwick in 2014, played football at the tight end position for Miami University, and was an off-season member of the Green Bay Packers in 2018.