Calvin O'Neal (born October 6, 1954) is a former professional

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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

who played for 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 ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and was an All-American and team co-captain for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Amateur career

O'Neal is a 1972 graduate of

Saginaw High School Saginaw High School (part of the Saginaw City School District) is located in Saginaw, Michigan, USA. The student enrollment is 593 students. History The school was established in 1865 as East Side High School. Alice Freeman Palmer, who later be ...

, where he won All-State and All-Saginaw Valley honors in football and was named Most Valuable Player of the Saginaw Valley Conference, after averaging 14 tackles per game. He was also a standout in basketball and track and field at Saginaw High from 1969-71. O'Neal was teammates with quarterback

Tom Slade Thomas A. Slade (April 6, 1952 – November 12, 2006) was an American football quarterback who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team from 1971 to 1973. Saginaw High School Slade was born in Manotick, Michigan, but wa ...

both at

and at the University of Michigan. He attended the

on a football scholarship. He served as co-captain along with

Rob Lytle Robert William Lytle (November 12, 1954 – November 20, 2010) was an American football player. Lytle played college football at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1976. A running back, he broke Michigan's career record with 3,317 rushing ...

and Kirk Lewis. The 1976 team was ranked #1 for eight weeks, but lost two of its last four games including a Rose Bowl loss to the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

. However, the team had four All-Americans (O'Neal, Lytle, Jim Smith, and

Mark Donahue Mark Joseph Donahue (born January 28, 1956) is a former American football player. He played college football as an offensive guard for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1975 to 1977. He was a consensus All-American in both 1976 and 1977 ...

) as well as nine All Big Ten Conference players. O'Neal made ten tackles in his first game for the Wolverines, was twice named an All-Big Ten linebacker and was a Consensus All-American and team co-captain in 1976. He was a team leader on defense, setting a season record with 151 tackles in 1975, and had a record 378 tackles for his career. O'Neal combined strength and speed from his inside linebacking spot, and had three interceptions in 1976 for 60 return yards and a touchdown.

Professional career

O'Neal was selected by the

in the sixth round (163rd pick) of the 1977 NFL Draft. He played in 15 games for the Colts in 1978. O'Neal lives in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. He is the founder of Lifestyle Business Affairs, an enrichment program for high school and collegiate student-athletes. O'Neal was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Notes

External links

Top Michigan Football Players 1969-2000

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneal, Calvin 1954 births American football linebackers Baltimore Colts players Living people Michigan Wolverines football players