Kurt Frank Becker (born December 22, 1958) 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 ...

player. He played college football as an offensive guard at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1978 to 1981, was selected as a first-team All-American in 1981, and played professional football 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 Chicago Bears (1982-1988, 1990) and the Los Angeles Rams (1989).

Early years

Becker was born in Aurora, Illinois, in 1958. He attended

East Aurora High School East Aurora High School, (also known as EAHS or Aurora East High School), is a public, four-year high school located in Kane County, at the corner of Smith Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois. ...

in suburban

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

University of Michigan

Becker enrolled at the

in 1977 and played college football as an offensive guard for Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1978 to 1981. He started 36 consecutive games between 1979 and 1981. He was selected as a first-team player on both the 1980 and

1981 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1981 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Big Ten Conference teams for the 1981 college football season. Two players were unanimous first-team selections by the Ass ...

s. As a senior, he was also Michigan's co-captain and a

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lomba ...

finalist, and was selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

, and

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

as a first-team player on the

1981 College Football All-America Team The 1981 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1981. The National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

Professional football

Becker was selected by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round (146th overall pick) of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...

. He played at the

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

position for the Chicago Bears from 1982 to 1988. He was the Bears' starting right guard in 1983 and 1984, appearing in 32 games, 30 as a starter, during those two seasons. In 1986, he won the Super Bowl with the Bears. He played for the Los Angeles Rams for two games during the

1989 NFL season The 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement. Paul Tagliabue was eventually chosen to succeed him, taking over on November 5. Due to ...

before returning to the Bears for 10 games as a backup in 1990.

Later years

As of 2010, Becker was the associate head coach for

Marmion Academy Marmion Academy (formerly Marmion Military Academy) is a grade 9–12 Roman Catholic high school for boys in Aurora, Illinois, United States. It is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford. The academy is owned and operated by the Benedictine m ...

, a college-prep academy in Aurora. From 2013-2017, he was the head coach for the

football program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Kurt 1958 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive guards Chicago Bears players Los Angeles Rams players Michigan Wolverines football players Sportspeople from Aurora, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois