George Preas

George Robert Preas (June 25, 1933 – February 24, 2007) was an

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 ...

lineman 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

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 ...

. Preas grew up in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

a
Jefferson High School
graduating in 1951. He went on to star at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

, and was inducted as a member of the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, the second year Tech honored its former athletes. He was drafted by the

, and played offensive tackle for the Colts from 1955 to 1965, alongside teammates like quarterback

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

, receiver

Raymond Berry Raymond Emmett Berry Jr. (born February 27, 1933) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a split end for the Baltimore Colts from 1955 to 1967, and after several assist ...

, running back

Lenny Moore Leonard Edward Moore (born November 25, 1933) is an American former professional football player who played both halfback and flanker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts from 1956 to 1967. He played college football f ...

, left tackle Jim Parker, defensive tackle

Art Donovan Arthur James Donovan Jr. (June 5, 1924 – August 4, 2013), nicknamed the Bulldog, was an American football defensive tackle who played for three National Football League (NFL) teams, most notably the Baltimore Colts. He was inducted into the Pro ...

and defensive end

Gino Marchetti Gino John Marchetti (January 2, 1926 – April 29, 2019) was an American professional American football, football player who was a defensive end and Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) ...

. Preas died in the South Roanoke Nursing Home in 2007. 1933 births 2007 deaths Sportspeople from Roanoke, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia American football defensive ends American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Virginia Tech Hokies football players Baltimore Colts players {{offensive-lineman-1930s-stub