Chuck Bednarik

Chuck Bednarik
Chuck Bednarik
Position(s): Linebacker Center	Jersey #(s): 60
Born: May 1, 1925 (1925-05-01) (age 84) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Career information
Year(s): 1949–1962
NFL Draft: 1949 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1
College: Pennsylvania
Professional teams
Philadelphia Eagles (1949-1962)
Career stats
Games Played	169
Interceptions	20
Touchdowns	1
Stats at NFL.com
Career highlights and awards
8× Pro Bowl selection (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1960) 10× All-Pro selection (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961) NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1950s All-Decade Team 1953 Pro Bowl MVP 1948 Maxwell Award Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll Philadelphia Eagles #60 Retired
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame

Charles Philip Bednarik (born May 1, 1925 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is a former professional American football player, known as one of the most devastating tacklers in the history of football and the last two-way player in the National Football League. A Slovak - American from the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, he is perhaps best remembered for a tackle on the New York Giants' Frank Gifford, then a star running back, that knocked Gifford out of professional football for a year and a half, and shortened Gifford's playing career.

He played for the Philadelphia Eagles from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and, upon retirement, was immediately voted entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 (his year of Hall of Fame eligibility).

Bednarik currently resides in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. His great-nephew, Adam Bednarik, was a third-string backup quarterback at West Virginia University.

Early life and military service

His parents come from Široké, a village in eastern Slovakia. They immigrated to the United States after First World War, in 1920 for work. The Bednariks settled down in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since at that time a big steel factory of Bethlehem Steel was situated in the town and they got work there. Their son Charles was born in 1925. He was attending school at SS. Cyril & Methodius in Bethlehem, which was a Slovak parochial school with Slovak language of instruction.

Bednarik began playing football in Bethlehem. He played for Bethlehem's Liberty High School.

Following his graduation from Liberty High School, he entered the United States Army Air Forces and served as a B-24 waist-gunner with the Eighth Air Force. He flew on 30 combat missions over Germany and was highly decorated for his honor in battle. After the last mission he thanked God for surviving and said he was not going to fly ever again. He didn't keep his word and flew many times in his life afterwards.

Bednarik subsequently attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was an All-American. At the University of Pennsylvania, he also was third in Heisman Trophy voting in 1948 and won the Maxwell Award that year.

Football career

Bednarik was the first player drafted in the 1949 NFL Draft, chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles. With the Eagles, he starred on both offense (as a center) and defense (as a linebacker) and became the last player to play on both sides of the football. He was a member of the Eagles' NFL Championship teams in 1949 and 1960. In the 1960 championship game, Chuck Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor on the final play of the game at the Eagles' eight yard line (the last Eagle between Taylor and the end zone), and remained atop Taylor for several seconds as the final seconds ticked off the clock, ensuring the Packers could not run another play. The Eagles won that game 17-13.

A tough and highly effective tackler, Bednarik is perhaps best known for knocking Frank Gifford of the New York Giants out of football for over eighteen months, with one of the most famous tackles in NFL history in 1960. Bednarik had a famous quarrel with Chuck Noll, who once, as a player for the Cleveland Browns (before his NFL coaching career), smashed him in the face during a 4th-down punting play.

Bednarik proved extremely durable. In 14 seasons, he missed just three games. He was named All-Pro eight times, and was the last of the NFL's "Sixty Minute Men," players who played both offense and defense on a regular basis.

Bednarik's nickname, "Concrete Charlie," originated from his off-season career as a concrete salesman for the Warner Company, not (contrary to popular belief) from his reputation as a ferocious tackler. Nonetheless, sportswriter Hugh Brown of The Bulletin in Philadelphia, credited with bestowing the nickname, remarked that Bednarik "is as hard as the concrete he sells."

In 1999, he was ranked number 54 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. This made him the highest-ranking player to have spent all of his career with the Eagles, the highest-ranking offensive center and the eighth-ranked linebacker in all of professional football.

Opinions on current NFL players

Bednarik has been an outspoken, even bitter critic of today's NFL players for playing on only one side of the ball, calling them "pussyfoots", noting that they "suck air after five plays" and that they "couldn't tackle my wife Emma". He even criticized Troy Brown of the New England Patriots and Deion Sanders, two players who also have played both offense and defense, because their positions as a wide receiver and cornerback didn't require as much contact as the center and linebacker positions that Bednarik played.

Relationship with the Eagles

Bednarik's former Eagles number 60 has been retired by the Eagles in honor of his achievements with the team and is one of only seven numbers retired in the history of the Eagles franchise.

When the Eagles established their Honor Roll in 1987, Bednarik was one of the first class of inductees. He attended reunions for the 25th anniversary of the 1960 NFL Championship team in 1985 and the 40th anniversary of the 1948-49 NFL Championship team in 1988 (though he was a rookie with the 1949 team), held in pregame ceremonies at Veterans Stadium.

Bednarik has feuded with current Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in 1996 because he refused to buy 100 copies of Bednarik's new book for $15 each for the entire team, as that was against NFL rules, and that grudge carried over into the Eagles most recent Super Bowl appearance in 2005, when he openly rooted against his former team. He has been a consistent critic of several league issues, including his pension, today's salaries, and one-way players.

During Eagles training camp in the summer of 2006, Bednarik and the Eagles reconciled, seemingly ending the feud between Bednarik and Lurie. However, at the same time, Bednarik made disparaging remarks regarding Reggie White, an Eagle fan favorite, leading to a somewhat lukewarm reception of the reconciliation by Eagles' fans. However, in the August 4th edition of Allentown's Morning Call newspaper, it was reported that Bednarik apologized. He stated he had been confused and meant to make the statement about controversial former Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens.

See also

• Chuck Bednarik Award (awarded annually in Bednarik's honor to the Best Collegiate Defensive Player.)

External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Chuck Bednarik profile.
• Chuck Bednarik at the Pennsylvania Football News All-Century Team.
• Named captain of the Cold, Hard Football Facts.com "All-Time 11" (2006)
• Gallery of Chuck Bednarik's football cards