Charles Andrew Krueger (January 28, 1937 – February 5, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 15 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), all with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He played college football at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, where he was a two-time All-American. He is a member of several halls of fame, including the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame,

San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National F ...

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

Hall of Fame, and the

Texas Sports Hall of Fame The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made "lasting fame and honor to Texas sports". It was established in 1951 by the Texas Sports Writers Association. Once it made its first induction (baseball ...

Early life

Born and raised in

Caldwell, Texas Caldwell is a city in and the county seat of Burleson County, Texas, Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,993 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area. Caldwell is the home of the Czech ...

, Krueger was the second oldest of eight children. His family was poor; all the boys helped out in their father's mattress factory business. When he was 12, Kruger started playing football at halfback, but he soon grew in size to be more fit as a lineman. As a sophomore at Caldwell High School, he weighed 190 pounds and was 6 feet 2 inches tall. He received college football offers from

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and after being convinced by new Aggies head coach Bear Bryant, decided to play for Texas A&M. His younger brother, Rolf Krueger, also played college football at Texas A&M and in the NFL.

College career

Krueger played college football at

. Under head coach Bear Bryant, his teammates included 1957 Heisman Trophy winner

John David Crow John David Crow Sr. (July 8, 1935 – June 17, 2015) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played professional f ...

, future NFL All-Pro linebacker and coach

Jack Pardee John Perry Pardee (April 19, 1936 – April 1, 2013) was an American football linebacker and the only head coach to helm a team in college football, the National Football League (NFL), the United States Football League (USFL), the World Footbal ...

, and future Aggie coach

Gene Stallings Eugene Clifton Stallings Jr. (born March 2, 1935) is a retired American football player and coach. He played college football at Texas A&M University (1954–1956), where he was one of the "Junction Boys", and later served as the head coach at ...

. Krueger received All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

(SWC) and All-American honors for the 1956 and 1957 seasons. He was part of the 1956 Aggies team that won the SWC championship. After his senior season, he played as captain of the 1958 College All-Star team, which defeated the Detroit Lions 35–19. Krueger was inducted into the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame in 1972 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He was also included in the SWC 50-year team which covered the 1919–68 seasons.

NFL career

Krueger was selected ninth overall in the

1958 NFL Draft The 1958 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on December 2, 1957, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 28, 1958. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the 12th and final year in ...

by the

. He played defensive tackle for the team until his retirement in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

. He was selected to the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

second-team in 1960 and 1965, and the

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

All-Pro honorable mention team in 1966. Krueger wore number 70 and his number was retired by the 49ers. Nicknamed the "Textbook Tackle," his defensive teammates included

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

members Dave Wilcox at linebacker and Jimmy Johnson at cornerback. He was one of the last linemen in the NFL to wear a two-bar "quarterback" facemask. His brother

Rolf Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. A ...

(b.1946) was also an NFL player with 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 ...

and the 49ers, where the two played together in 1972 and 1973. Krueger's 15-year tenure with the 49ers is tied with

Len Rohde Leonard Emil Rohde (April 16, 1938 – May 13, 2017) was an American football offensive tackle who played fifteen seasons for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. He helped the 49ers win the NFC West Division from 1970–72 ...

for fourth in team history, behind

John Brodie John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is a former American football player, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a Senior PGA Tour professional golfer, and ...

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. Known primarily as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, winning three championsh ...

, and Jimmy Johnson. Krueger was inducted into the

Hall of Fame in 1983, and the 49ers Hall of Fame in 2009.

After retirement

At age 51 in 1988, Krueger was awarded more than $2.3 million in damages stemming from a lawsuit against the San Francisco 49ers. The judge found that Krueger received repeated anesthetic injections during his NFL career so that he could continue to play in spite of significant knee injuries. The decision found that the 49ers were not truthful with Krueger regarding the seriousness of his injuries, which left him with severe chronic pain after his playing days. From 1960 to his death, Krueger lived in

Clayton, California Clayton (formerly Clayton's and Claytonville) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 10,897 as of the 2010 census. History In 1857, the town of Clayton was laid out and founded by Joel Henry Clayton (18 ...

where he was involved with charitable organizations. He suffered health problems in his later years that prevented him from enjoying the outdoors. In 2014, he was inducted into the

. He died at the age of 84 on February 5, 2021, following heart and kidney failure, eight days after his birthday. He was survived by his wife of 48 years, Kristin Adler Krueger.

References

External links

Texas A&M Athletics
– Hall of Fame – Charlie Krueger * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krueger, Charlie 1937 births 2021 deaths American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles National Football League players with retired numbers Texas A&M Aggies football players San Francisco 49ers players Western Conference Pro Bowl players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Caldwell High School (Caldwell, Texas) alumni People from Caldwell, Texas Players of American football from Texas