Eric Palmer Kumerow (born April 17, 1965) is a former

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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, ...

who played three

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for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

and one season with the Chicago Bears in the

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(NFL). He played 42 games in his NFL career. Kumerow was born in 1965 in Chicago, Illinois and went to Oak Park River Forest high school. He played quarterback and defensive back there before going to

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and playing linebacker. He would later be drafted in the first round of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Ma ...

by the

. He did not perform as well as expected to and was considered to be a draft "bust". He played three seasons with the Dolphins before going to the Chicago Bears. He tore his Achilles tendon before his fourth season started and subsequently retired.

Early life

Eric Kumerow was born on April 17, 1965 in

Chicago Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He went to high school at Oak Park (IL) River Forest. While in high school he played quarterback and defensive back, and was named ''

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'' High School All-American in 1982. He won numerous other awards in football and basketball, including being named ''The Tribune Athlete of the Month Award'' in December 1982, being named ''The Tribune All-State'' in 1982, and being named to the ''Associated Press'' and ''United Press International All-State teams''. In addition to football, he was a standout basketball player. His basketball coach Bob Parker said "Eric's the best athlete I've ever coached."

College career

Kumerow went to college at

. He started his career as a quarterback, which he played in high school, but switched to defense after spending his first season "on the bench." When he went to Ohio State, he focused more on football and did not play basketball. In college he played linebacker, and was named Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the year in 1986. He played alongside future pro bowl linebacker

Chris Spielman Charles Christopher Spielman (born October 11, 1965) is a former American football player and is a special assistant to the owner and CEO for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played linebacker at Ohio State University, w ...

while at Ohio State. In 1986, when he won Defensive Lineman of the Year honors, he had 66 tackles (9 for a loss of 62 yards), had an interception, an 6 passes defended. His best game of the season came against Iowa, where he had 8 tackles, a sack, and a pass defended to earn Associated Press Lineman of the Week honors. He was named team captain in 1987 and was named First-team All Big Ten. He finished his college career with 23 sacks, which ranks 6th among all Ohio State players. He was 6-7 and 250 pounds during his college career. He was also an Honorable Mention All-American in his senior year.

Professional career

NFL Draft

In the

, Kumerow was selected by the

with the 16th overall pick. It was one year after they drafted his brother-in-law

John Bosa John Wilfred Bosa (born January 10, 1964) is a former American football defensive end who played three seasons for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played football for Keene High School in Keene, New Hampshire and ...

with the same pick. His drafting received negative response from Dolphins fans because he was predicted to be drafted much later in the draft. According to some sources, the pick even surprised Kumerow.

Miami Dolphins

Kumerow was switched from linebacker to defensive end in his second week of training camp. His first game was played against the Chicago Bears, a team he would later play for. In his first season he played 14 games, had 13 tackles and 3 sacks. He played 12 games in 1989 and all 16 in 1990. He had 2 sacks in '89 but none in '90. He had his only career interception in 1990, which was returned for 5 yards. He didn't start in any games in his Dolphins career.

Chicago Bears

In 1991, he was signed by the Chicago Bears, who originally wanted to draft him. He later tore his Achilles tendon and retired afterwards. He finished his career with 42 games played and 5 sacks.

Personal life

He is the grandson of

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...

mob boss

Tony Accardo Anthony Joseph Accardo (; born Antonino Leonardo Accardo, ; April 28, 1906 – May 22, 1992), also known as "Joe Batters" and "Big Tuna", was an American longtime mobster. In a criminal career that spanned eight decades, he rose from small-time ho ...

, the son of Palmer Pyle, former NFL player, the father of Buffalo Bills wide receiver

Jake Kumerow Jake Anthony Kumerow (born February 17, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois Fighting Illini football, Illinois and Wisconsin–Whitewater ...

, the brother-in-law of former

first-round pick

, and the uncle of

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defensive end

Joey Bosa Joseph Anthony Bosa (born July 11, 1995) is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was selected third overall by the (then San Dieg ...

and

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 ...

defensive end

Nick Bosa Nicholas John Bosa (born October 23, 1997) is an American football defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was selected second overall by the 49ers in the 20 ...

. He now resides in the Chicago suburb of

Bartlett, Illinois Bartlett is a village located in Cook, DuPage and Kane counties, Illinois. A small parcel on the western border is in Kane County. The population was 41,105 at the 2020 census. History In its earliest times, the Village of Bartlett, Illinois ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumerow, Eric 1965 births Living people Players of American football from Chicago American football linebackers Ohio State Buckeyes football players Miami Dolphins players People from Bartlett, Illinois