Harold Lucious McLinton (July 1, 1947 – October 31, 1980) 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 wi ...

player who played

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, ...

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 ...

with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

from 1969 to 1978. McLinton was drafted by the Redskins in the

1969 NFL Draft The 1969 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League (AFL) held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place January 28–29, 1969. The draft be ...

out of

Southern University and A&M College Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

in the sixth round. He spent his entire 10-year career with the Redskins, playing in 127 games. He was a key contributor on the 1972 NFC Championship team. He finished his career with four interceptions and one touchdown. McLinton died on October 31, 1980 at the age of 33 from complications resulting from massive injuries sustained after being struck by a passing vehicle on Interstate 295 in southeast Washington after stopping to help a stranger change a flat tire. He was a 1966 graduate of Harper High School in Atlanta, GA and went on to attend Southern on a football scholarship. He graduated May 1969 with a bachelor's degree in Marketing & Management.

References

American football linebackers Washington Redskins players Southern Jaguars football players 1947 births 1980 deaths Road incident deaths in Washington, D.C. {{linebacker-1940s-stub