It took us a while to stumble upon this, John Wayne played college Football for U.S.C. in the 1920s. As a collector of Stanford Football Programs, it was a treat to find him in this Stanford v. U.S.C. program from 1926:

Born Marion Morrison and featured in the program as such, you will no doubt recognize that distinctive face in this action shot from the program:

We also spotted John in a 1939 Navy v. Dartmouth football program, this time as an actor instead of an athlete. The program features a full page advertisement for a new movie “Allegheny Uprising” co-starring Claire Trevor.