Bruce Van Dyke (born August 6, 1944) is a former

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 ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

who played eleven seasons in the

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) for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Early years

Van Dyke grew up in

Buckner, Missouri Buckner is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,076 at the 2010 census. For decades it was best known for TV and radio commercials promoting local automobile dealership Lasater Ford, run by the Lasater brothers, ...

, and attended

Fort Osage High School Fort Osage High School is a high school located at 2101 N. Twyman Rd. in unincorporated Jackson County, Missouri, in the Kansas City metropolitan area, adjacent to Independence. It belongs to the Fort Osage R-1 School District and serves a secti ...

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, where he was a two way starter, playing on both the offensive and defensive lines under head coach

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Univers ...

. As a first-team All-

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

in 1965, Van Dyke played on Tigers teams that went a combined 21–8–2 from 1963 to 1965. The 1965 Missouri squad, on which he served as a captain, finished the year ranked sixth nationally, with a win over the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the 1966 Sugar Bowl. Van Dyke was selected to play in the Hula Bowl in 1966, and was inducted into the University of Missouri's Intercollegiate Hall of Fame in 2001.

Professional career

Van Dyke was selected in the 12th round of the

1966 NFL Draft The 1966 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick in each of the first five rou ...

by the

and in the 15th round of the

1966 AFL Draft The 1966 American Football League draft was held on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The AFL added the Miami Dolphins as an expansion team in 1966 to bring its total to nine franchises for its seventh season. The Dolphins were awarded the first overa ...

by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. He signed with the Eagles and played there his rookie year. The following season he was traded to the

where he played right guard for the next seven seasons. His first year with the Steelers the team had won only one game. In 1972 Pittsburgh finished the season with an 11–3 record and won the

AFC Central The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

title. In week 8 of the 1972 Steelers season Van Dyke was named A.P. Offensive player of the week after a 40–17 win over the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. That same year the Steelers made their first playoff appearance since the 1947 season and won their first franchise playoff game beating the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

13–7. During that game, one of the most memorable plays in both Van Dyke's career and NFL history occurred. Trailing 7–6 with 22 seconds left in the game,

Franco Harris Franco Harris (March 7, 1950 – December 20, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A nine-time Pro Bowl selection ...

scored the winning touchdown on the final play of the game. This play, of course, is known as the

Immaculate Reception The Immaculate Reception is one of the most famous plays in the history of American football. It occurred in the AFC divisional playoff game of the National Football League (NFL), between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders (now Las ...

. In 1974, Van Dyke was traded to the

, where he was reunited with his former college coach Dan Devine. While in Green Bay, he switched to left guard and retired from football after the 1976 season. In 2008, Van Dyke was named to the

Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team The Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team represents the franchise's best players from the pre-1970 era. The team was chosen by a small group of Steeler officials and journalists and presented as a part of the Steelers' 75th season celebration in . Th ...

References

1944 births Living people American football offensive guards Green Bay Packers players Missouri Tigers football players Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Steelers players American Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Independence, Missouri People from Lancaster, California Players of American football from Missouri People from Jackson County, Missouri {{offensive-lineman-1940s-stub