Benjamin Bernard Flowers (born Benjamin Bernard Kwiatkowski, February 14, 1930April 14, 2011) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played at the

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

position for the

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

where he became a consensus first-team All-American in 1952. Flowers was drafted by the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

in the second round (14th overall pick) of the

1953 NFL Draft The 1953 National Football League Draft was held on January 22, 1953, at Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Selections made by the folded Dallas Texans were assigned to the new Baltimore Colts. This was the seventh year that the first ove ...

but chose to play in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

, where his 9 touchdowns scored made him an all-star. He played one game for the Colts in 1956.

Early life

Born February 14, 1930, in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

, Flowers was born Benjamin Bernard Kwiatkowski to a Polish family, and translated his last name to Flower ("kwiat" is Polish for flower). He attended

Central Tech High School Central Tech School was a high school in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Originally named Central High School, it was the result of the merger of Academy High School and Technical Memorial High School after the conclusion of the 1992–1 ...

College career

Flowers continued his football career at

following his graduation from Tech. Flowers lettered 3 years for the Boilermakers, from 1950 to 1952. In 1952, Flowers helped lead the Boilermakers to a share of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

title, and was named a Consensus All-American.

Professional career

Baltimore Colts

Flowers was drafted with the 14th overall selection in the

Ottawa Rough Riders

Flowers choose not to play with the Colts in 1953, opting to play for the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

instead. Flowers posted 9 receiving touchdowns, and was named an East All Star.

Return to Baltimore

After serving in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

from 1954 to 1955, Flowers returned to professional football, appearing in one game with the Colts during the 1956 season.

References

External links

Pro-football-reference

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Bernie 1930 births 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football tight ends American people of Polish descent Purdue Boilermakers football players All-American college football players Baltimore Colts players American players of Canadian football Canadian football tight ends Ottawa Rough Riders players