Lionel Aldridge (February 14, 1941 – February 12, 1998) was an American professional football player,''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League.'' New York: HarperCollins, 1999. 553. a defensive end 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 ...

for 11 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.

Early years

Born in

Evergreen, Louisiana Evergreen is a town in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 310 at the 2010 census. Evergreen is located east of Bunkie. History First named "Bayou Ridge", the town's name was later changed to "Evergreen", inspired by ...

, Aldridge was raised by his sharecropper grandparents. After his grandfather's death when Aldridge was 15, he was sent to live with a steelworker uncle in Northern California and played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

at Pittsburg High School. He earned an athletic scholarship and played college football at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

in Logan, Utah and was co-captain of the team and an All-Skyline Conference tackle.

NFL career

Aldridge was selected in the

fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

of the

1963 NFL draft The 1963 National Football League draft was held at the Sheraton in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, December 3, 1962. The first overall selection was quarterback Terry Baker of Oregon State, the Heisman Trophy winner, taken by the Los Angeles ...

, 54th overall, by the two-time defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers. One of the few rookies to start for head coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

, he enjoyed an 11-year NFL career. As a Packer, he played a role in their unprecedented three straight NFL Championships ( 1965- 66- 67) and victories in Super Bowls I and II. Traded to the San Diego Chargers, Aldridge played two seasons in San Diego before retiring from professional football in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

After football

After retiring, Aldridge worked as sports analyst at

WTMJ-TV WTMJ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Kenosha-licensed Ion Television station WPXE-TV (channel 55). WTMJ-TV's studios are ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

and for Packers radio and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

until manifesting

paranoid schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

in the late 1970s. Homeless for a time in part due to misdiagnosis, he eventually reached a form of equilibrium. He became an advocate for the homeless and the

mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

until his death in 1998. His advocacy work included serving as a board member for the Mental Health Association of Milwaukee and working as a speaker for the

National Alliance on Mental Illness The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a United States-based nonprofit organization originally founded as a grassroots group by family members of people diagnosed with mental illness. NAMI identifies its mission as "providing advoc ...

References

External links

* * 1941 births 1998 deaths American football defensive ends American sports announcers Green Bay Packers announcers Green Bay Packers players National Football League announcers People from Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana People with schizophrenia Players of American football from Louisiana San Diego Chargers players Utah State Aggies football players {{defensive-lineman-1940s-stub