Photo via Roger Viollet, Branger/Getty Images

Adam Rank at NFL.com compiled a photo essay on the rare athletes who've competed in the league and in the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics. 

Here's a look at some of the notable members of that exclusive club:

Jim Thorpe

Photo via CMG Worldwide

More than a century after his appearance in the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe remains at or near the top of any serious listing of the greatest athletes in human history. At the Stockholm Games, Thorpe won gold in the pentathlon and decathlon. A founding member of the NFL, its first president and part of the inaugural Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1963, Thorpe also played Major League Baseball and for a barnstorming pro basketball team.

Bob Hayes

Photo via The African American Athlete

The only other Olympian inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hayes took gold in the 100 meters (in a then-world record 10.06 seconds) and the 4x100 relay at the 1964 Tokyo Games. The three-time Pro Bowler had 7,414 receiving yards and 71 touchdowns for the Dallas Cowboys, and was a member of their Super Bowl VI championship team.

Michael Carter

Photo via 49ers.com

In 1979, Carter set the national high school record in the shot put - which still stands - by breaking the previous mark by nine feet. He was part of SMU football teams that went a combined 21-1-1 in 1982-83, and won a national track and field title there. As a defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers from 1984-92, he went to three Pro Bowls and won three Super Bowls.

Herschel Walker

Photo via NBC Sports

Walker's athletic exploits are extraordinary. The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner accounted for 20,130 offensive yards and 143 touchdowns in 15 years between the USFL and NFL. He was on the U.S. two-man bobsled team that placed seventh at the 1992 Albertville Games, and as a fifth-degree black belt, competed in professional mixed martial arts. He also won multiple Superstars competitions and once danced for the Fort Worth Ballet. 

Jeremy Bloom

Photo via The Gazzette 

At 19, Bloom competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. After his thrilling gridiron career at Colorado was cut two years short by the NCAA in a dispute over endorsements, Bloom skied in the 2006 Turin Olympics, went to the NFL combine two days later and was chosen in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Eagles. A hamstring issue landed him on injured reserve, he was cut the next season, then spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. Bloom became the U.S. Skiing Hall of Fame's youngest freestyle inductee in 2013.