Joseph J. Levelis (born January 6, 1961) is a former

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 ...

offensive tackle in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) for the Oklahoma and

Arizona Outlaws The Arizona Outlaws were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid-1980s. They were owned by Fresno banker and real estate magnate William Tatham Sr., who had briefly owned the Portland Thu ...

. He played college football at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

Early years

Levelis attended

Lindenhurst Senior High School Lindenhurst Senior High School (LHS) is a public high school in Lindenhurst, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. The high school is the sole high school of the Lindenhurst Union Free School District, which includes the Village of Lindenhu ...

, where he was a starter at offensive tackle. He accepted a football scholarship from the

. He became a starter at

left guard In gridiron football, a guard (G), otherwise known as an offensive guard (OG), is a player who lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team on the line of scrimmage used primarily for blocking. Right g ...

as a sophomore. He was moved to

right tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, ...

as a junior, to replace the departed

Brett Miller Brett Kolste Miller (born October 2, 1958) is a former American football offensive tackle who played ten seasons in the National Football League. He was the weekend sports anchor for KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los A ...

Professional career

Levelis was selected by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

in the eleventh round (304th overall) of the 1984 NFL Draft. He opted to instead sign with the

. On May 9,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

Oklahoma Outlaws Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

of the

. He was a backup offensive tackle and played 2 seasons until the league folded.

Personal life

Levelis was a football graduate assistant at the

References

External links

Joe Levelis Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levelis, Joe 1961 births Living people Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio American football offensive tackles Iowa Hawkeyes football players Oklahoma Outlaws players Arizona Outlaws players