Loren James Toews (born November 3, 1951) is a retired

NFL 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 major ...

football player. Toews graduated from

Del Mar High School Del Mar High School (DMHS) is a four-year, public secondary school established in 1959 in San Jose, California. It is part of the Campbell Union High School District, (CUHSD), the other schools in which are Branham, Leigh High School, Leigh, Pros ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

and later

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where he received his degree in biological sciences. In 1972, Toews was named the "most inspirational player" on the team at Berkeley and given the Stub Allison Award, named after California football coach Leonard B. "Stub" Allison. That following year, in 1973 Toews was drafted in the eighth round by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

where he played as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for 11 seasons. While playing for the Steelers, Toews attended the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

's Graduate School of Business and obtained his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree in 1981. Toews was a four-time

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

participant and a four-time winner. He started in

Super Bowl XIII Super Bowl XIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

and

Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

. In

Super Bowl IX Super Bowl IX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) cha ...

, though, he replaced an injured Andy Russell for most of the second half. As an accomplished linebacker, he was able to contribute to the win. Toews moved to left inside linebacker in 1982 when the Steelers switched to the

3–4 defense In American football, the 3–4 defense is a common defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers. It is a called a "base defense" because it is the default defensive alignment used on "base downs" (1st and 2nd downs). ...

, while incumbent middle linebacker Jack Lambert moved to right inside linebacker and retained the "Mike" role as the Steelers signal-caller on defense. Toews retired from professional football at spring camp in 1984 having played in 57 consecutive games up to the last game of the previous season. Toews has a wife, Valerie and is also the father of three children: Aaron, Jocelyn and Cassandra. Aaron was a defenseman on the Northeastern University hockey team from 1996-1998. Jocelyn owns an independent record label called

Lujo Records Lujo Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 2001 by Erik Aucoin in Louisiana.Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

(who also played in the NFL as an offensive lineman) buy and sell Real Estate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toews, Loren 1951 births American football linebackers California Golden Bears football players Living people People from Dinuba, California Pittsburgh Steelers players Del Mar High School alumni Players of American football from San Jose, California