John A. Lomakoski (November 11, 1940 – February 16, 1999) 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 ...

player.

Early years

Lomakoski was born in 1940 in

Washington, Michigan Washington Charter Township, located within Metro Detroit, is a charter township of Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,139 at the 2010 census. Washington Township is bordered by the village of Romeo as well as Ra ...

, and attended

Romeo High School Romeo High School is located in northern Macomb County, Michigan approximately 30 miles north of the city of Detroit. It is a part of Romeo Community Schools. Demographics The demographic breakdown of the 1,738 students enrolled in 2016-17 was: *M ...

in northern Macomb County, Michigan. He played college football for the

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's baseball, basketball ...

from 1958 to 1961. He was twice selected as an all-conference player and was invited to play in the Senior Bowl after his senior year.

Professional football

He was selected by the

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 ...

in the fourth round (48th overall pick) of the

1962 NFL Draft The 1962 National Football League draft was held on December 4, 1961 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins used the first overall pick of the draft to select running back Ernie Davis, then subsequently traded him ...

. He signed a contract to play for the Lions in December 1961. He appeared in three games at the

offensive tackle 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 ...

position for the team during its 1962 season. In June 1963, he signed a contract to return to the Lions, but he was released in August 1963.

Later years

After his football career ended, Lomakoski worked as a sales representative for Procter & Gamble. He retired in Munising, Michigan, where he died in 1999 at age 58. He was survived by his wife Karen, daughter Sarah Elizabeth, and son John David.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomakoski, John 1940 births 1999 deaths American football tackles Detroit Lions players Western Michigan Broncos football players People from Romeo, Michigan Players of American football from Macomb County, Michigan