John Louis Gonzaga (March 6, 1933 – May 17, 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 ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

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

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 ...

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 divisi ...

, and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He also was a member of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL). He did not play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Early years

Gonzaga attended

Mount Diablo High School Mount Diablo High School is a public high school located in Concord, California, United States. It is the oldest school in the Mount Diablo Unified School District, founded in April 1901. The school currently serves western Concord, the unincorpo ...

, but did not attend college, instead going to work to help support his family. He continued to be involved in the sport by playing

sandlot football Street football, also known as backyard football or sandlot football, is an amateur variant of American football primarily played informal ...

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

On October 21,

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

, he was signed as an

undrafted 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

, though he never played a down of

and he was working in a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

. As a rookie, he played at

middle 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

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, he was used as a two-way

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, o ...

. In

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, he was moved to left tackle, where he started for two seasons.

Dallas Cowboys

Gonzaga was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft and became the first starter at right defensive end in franchise history, while also leading the team in sacks. On August 21,

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, after asking to be traded, he was sent to the

in exchange for

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

Bob Grottkau Robert Fred Grottkau (born March 22, 1937) is a former American football guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Oregon. Early years Grottkau attended ...

and rookie Houston Entwine.

Detroit Lions

The

moved him to left tackle in his first two seasons with the team and then changed him to left guard. After being a five-year starter, he was released on August 30,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Denver Broncos (AFL)

On September 6,

, 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

of the

. He played right guard in 11 games.

Personal life

Gonzaga came from a family of 14 children and was of Portuguese descent. He worked as a sales manager for

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

glass division, until starting his own glass company. He died on May 20, 2007, at his home in West Bloomfield, Michigan, after battling an illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, John 1933 births 2007 deaths People from Concord, California Players of American football from Contra Costa County, California American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles American football defensive ends Dallas Cowboys players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Detroit Lions players San Francisco 49ers players American people of Portuguese descent People from West Bloomfield, Michigan Players of American football from Oakland County, Michigan