Bonnie Ryan Sloan (born June 1, 1948) is an American former
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) player who was the first of three
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
football players in NFL history.
Sloan played four games at
defensive tackle for the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
in the
1973 season.
A native of
Lebanon, Tennessee, Sloan starred at
Austin Peay State University. He was a 10th round selection (242nd overall pick) of the
1973 NFL Draft by the Cardinals, who released him after that one season due to a knee injury.
Former
Denver Bronco Kenny Walker followed him into the NFL, in the early 1990s; both were then followed by fullback
Derrick Coleman
Derrick Demetrius Coleman (born June 21, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. Coleman was born in Mobile, Alabama, but grew up and attended high school in Detroit, and attended college at Syracuse University. He was select ...
, who last played for the
Arizona Cardinals.
References
*''ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia'', 2006 edition
1948 births
Living people
People from Lebanon, Tennessee
Sportspeople from the Nashville metropolitan area
Players of American football from Tennessee
American football defensive tackles
Austin Peay Governors football players
Austin Peay State University alumni
St. Louis Cardinals (football) players
Deaf players of American football
American deaf people
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