Ordell Wayne Braase ( ; March 13, 1932 – March 25, 2019) was an

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 ...

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). He played with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

throughout his career. While Braase was with the Colts they won the NFL Championship three times, in 1958, 1959 and 1968. He was a Pro Bowl pick in both 1966 and 1967. In his final season (1968), the Colts went to

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...

, on January 12, 1969, only to lose to the New York Jets.

Career

After playing at South Dakota, the Colts drafted Braase in the 14th round of the 1954 NFL draft. However, he did not join the team until 1957, delayed by three years of service in the

U. S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

which included a tour of duty in Korea. In his second season, he was a won an NFL title in the

1958 NFL Championship Game The 1958 NFL Championship Game was the 26th NFL championship game, played on December 28 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It was the first NFL playoff game to be decided in sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New ...

, a game widely considered one of the best in NFL history. During his football career in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Braase performed in commercials for Dixie Cola, even singing their jingle. Following his retirement as an active player, Braase was a restaurant owner in Timonium,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and in the 1970s was an executive with a Baltimore truck body manufacturer. He also teamed with play-by-play announcer

Chuck Thompson Charles Lloyd Thompson (June 10, 1921 – March 6, 2005) was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and the National Football League's Baltimore Colts. He was well-recognized for his r ...

to provide color commentary for radio broadcasts of Colts games. In the 1990s, he co-hosted a popular program, ''Braase, Donovan, Davis and Fans'' on

WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Televi ...

in Baltimore with fellow Colt teammate

Art Donovan Arthur James Donovan Jr. (June 5, 1924 – August 4, 2013), nicknamed the Bulldog, was an American football defensive tackle who played for three National Football League (NFL) teams, most notably the Baltimore Colts. He was inducted into the Pro ...

. The trio talked more about Art Donovan's fabled stories than contemporary NFL football, but the show held high ratings in its time period. Braase later lived in Bradenton, Florida, where he died in 2019 at the age of 87.''Baltimore Sun'' obituary
March 31, 2019

References

1932 births 2019 deaths People from Timonium, Maryland People from Mitchell, South Dakota Sportspeople from Baltimore County, Maryland Players of American football from South Dakota American football defensive ends South Dakota Coyotes football players Baltimore Colts players Western Conference Pro Bowl players Presidents of the National Football League Players Association Trade unionists from South Dakota National Football League announcers Baltimore Colts announcers Deaths from dementia in Florida Deaths from Alzheimer's disease {{defensive-lineman-1930s-stub