Keith Eck (born November 28, 1955) is a former

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 ...

who played one season for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

of 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 ...

. He played college football at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Early life

Eck attended

Crespi Carmelite High School Crespi Carmelite High School, shortly known as Crespi, is a private Catholic all-male four-year college preparatory high school located in Encino District, Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The ...

Encino, California Encino (Spanish language, Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north t ...

where he played baseball and football. As a senior, he was voted the El Camino Real League’s most valuable lineman and earned recognition from the United Savings Helms Athletic Foundation of All Southern California High School Football First-team. IN 2008 he was inducted into the Crespi Athletic Hall of Fame.

College

At the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Eck played center and guard. As a senior, he was Second-team All-Pac-8 as well as receiving the UCLA award for most improved player.

Professional career

In 1977 Eck played for 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 ...

professional football team, but was placed on injured reserve for the 1977 season. The following year, he returned to UCLA to coach the offensive tackles and tight-ends. In 1979 Eck played for the New York Giants, backing up

Jim Clack James Thomas Clack (October 26, 1947 – April 7, 2006) was an American football center and guard in the National Football League. He played for 11 seasons between 1971 and 1981. He died of heart failure in 2006 after suffering from ca ...

at center as well as being the special teams snapper for punts and field goals. In 1980 his football career ended abruptly when he suffered a heart attack on an airplane en route to his first pre-season training camp for his second year with the New York Giants.Bill Verigon, "Hard Year On, Off Field for Parcells", ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', November 29, 1983, reprinted in ''Parcells'' (Sports Publishing LLC, 2000), , p. 27
Excerpts available
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Personal life

After football, Eck has worked in the financial services industry, and in 1990 founded his own financial and insurance company. He lives in

La Costa, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

, with his wife, Marcela, and their three children.

References

External links

Keith Eck Financial & Insurance Services websiteCrespi Carmelite High School Football- Player Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eck, Keith 1955 births Living people American football offensive guards American football centers New York Giants players UCLA Bruins football players