Melvin Leroy Branch (February 15, 1937 – April 21, 1992) was a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

and

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs and the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL). He was a member of the "

Chinese Bandits The Chinese Bandits were the backup defensive unit on coach Paul Dietzel's LSU Tigers football teams, most notably the 1958 and 1959 teams. The name was also used briefly by the Army Cadets football team during Dietzel's coaching tenure at the U.S. ...

" defense for the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

winning

1958 LSU Tigers football team The 1958 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) in American football during the 1958 NCAA University Division football season. After finishing the season with a 10–0 record the team was named national champion by ...

, and a starter for the Texans in their victory over the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

in the longest professional football game played up to that time, the 1962 AFL Championship Game.

External links

* 1937 births 1992 deaths American football defensive ends People from Leesville, Louisiana Players of American football from Louisiana LSU Tigers football players Dallas Texans (AFL) players Kansas City Chiefs players Miami Dolphins players American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-League players People from DeRidder, Louisiana American Football League players {{defensive-lineman-1930s-stub

See also

External links