John George Prchlik (July 20, 1925 – December 31, 2003) was a professional

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 ...

defensive 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 ...

Early life

Prchlik was born the eldest of four siblings in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. His brother,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

, became a politician and professor in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Raised in a Czech immigrant community, he did not learn English until he went to school. After graduating from Cleveland West Technical High School, he was nominated for an officers training program at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he was a classmate of

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

and William F. Buckley Jr.

College

He served as an Ensign on the aircraft carrier, the USS ''White Plains'' in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

in the middle of his college career. After the war ended, he returned to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, where he lettered in football, wrestling. As a college All-American, he played in both the 1948 East West Shrine game and the College All Star game.

Career

After playing

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 ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, Prchlik was drafted by the

Boston Yanks The Boston Yanks were a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Any games that conflicted with the Boston Red Sox baseball schedule in the Ameri ...

in the 30th round (277th overall) in the 1947 NFL Draft. He played five seasons for 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 ...

including their 1952 and 1953

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

seasons and in the 1951 and 1952 seasons was defensive captain. In the off season, he worked towards his law degree and graduated from

Wayne State University Law School Wayne State University Law School (Wayne Law) is the law school of Wayne State University in Detroit. Wayne Law is located in Midtown, Detroit's Cultural Center. Founded in 1927, the law school offers juris doctor (J.D.), master of laws (LL.M.), ...

in 1952. He was an executive at

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 ...

for 30 years.

Personal life

Prchlik married his wife, Patricia Hallihan, a local resident in 1949. Prchlik's nephew,

Andrew Perchlik Andrew John Perchlik (born June 3, 1968) is an American activist and politician from Vermont. A Democrat, in 2018 he was elected to the Vermont Senate from the three-member at-large Washington County Senate District. Early life and education ...

, in an environmental activist and member of the

Vermont Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-m ...

. Prchlik died December 31, 2003 of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee Fairfield Glade is a resort, retirement community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 9,152 at the 2020 census, up over 3,000 from the 2010 census. Geography Fairfield Glade is loc ...

at age 78.

References

1925 births 2003 deaths Players of American football from Cleveland American football defensive linemen Yale Bulldogs football players Detroit Lions players Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Tennessee United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers {{defensive-lineman-1920s-stub