Paul Peter Naumoff (July 3, 1945 – August 17, 2018) 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 ...

player. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

from 1964 to 1966 and was selected as a consensus first-team All-American at the

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 ...

position in 1966. He 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) as a linebacker for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

from 1967 to 1978. He was selected to play in the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

after the 1970 season and was named the Lions' defensive most valuable player in 1975. He once played in 142 consecutive games for the Lions and missed only two games in 12 years with the club.

Early years

Naumoff was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, in 1945, and attended

Eastmoor Academy Eastmoor Academy is a public high school located on the east side of Columbus, Ohio. It is part of Columbus City Schools. Eastmoor Academy was formerly known as Eastmoor High School. The school's colors are red, white and blue, and its mascot i ...

there. He was the son of Macedonian immigrants.

College football

Naumoff enrolled at the

and played

for the

Tennessee Volunteers football The Tennessee Volunteers football program (variously called "Tennessee", "Vols", "UT", or "Big Orange") represents the University of Tennessee (UT). The Vols have played football for 130 seasons, starting in 1891; their combined record of 862� ...

team under coach

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, where ...

from 1964 to 1966. He began as an offensive player in 1964 but was moved to defense in 1965. As a

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 ...

, he helped lead the 1965 Tennessee team to an 8–1–2 record, a #7 ranking in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, and a victory over Tulsa in the

1965 Bluebonnet Bowl The 1965 Bluebonnet Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured the Tennessee Volunteers and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Background The Golden Hurricane finished as champions of the Missouri Valley Conference. This was the se ...

. In 1966, Naumoff moved to

after one of the team's starting linebackers, Tom Fisher, died in an automobile accident. He helped lead the 1966 Tennessee team to an 8-3 record. He was awarded the game ball after the

1966 Gator Bowl The 1966 Gator Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured the Tennessee Volunteers and the Syracuse Orangemen. Background The Volunteers had finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference, with an 11–10 loss to #3 Alabama ...

. Naumoff made a "jolting tackle" of

Larry Csonka Larry Richard Csonka (; born December 25, 1946) is a former professional American football fullback who played for the Miami Dolphins for the majority of his career, along with the New York Giants for three years, and a short stint with the Mem ...

late in the game to preserve Tennessee's 18-12 victory over Syracuse. At the end of the 1966 season, Naumoff was selected as a consensus first-team linebacker on the

1966 College Football All-America Team The 1966 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1966. The NCAA recognizes six selectors as "official" f ...

. He also played in the 1967

Chicago College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the C ...

and the 1967

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

. Naumoff received a bachelor's degree of education in 1967.

Professional football

Naumoff was selected by the

in the third round, 60th overall pick, of the

1967 NFL Draft The 1967 National Football League draft was conducted March 14–15, 1967, at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. It was the first common draft with the AFL, part of the AFL–NFL merger agreement of June 1966. This draft was delayed as new gui ...

. He played 12 years for the Lions from 1967 to 1978. He was selected to play in the

after the 1970 season. In 1975, Naumoff had two

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s and was voted by his teammates as the Lions' defensive most valuable player. Naumoff once played in 142 consecutive games for the Lions and missed only two games in 12 years with the club. In July 1979, at age 33, Naumoff announced his retirement as a player, citing a foot injury that had required two surgeries and posed the risk of permanent damage. At the time of his retirement, Naumoff had appeared in 168 games for the Lions, more than any other players in franchise history other than Wayne Walker and

Dick LeBeau Charles Richard "Dick" LeBeau ( ; born September 9, 1937) is a former American football cornerback and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was active with the NFL for 59 consecutive seasons, 14 as a player with the Detroit Lions and ...

Later years

After retiring from the NFL, Naumoff opened a beer distributorship in Tennessee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naumoff, Paul 1945 births 2018 deaths All-American college football players American football linebackers Detroit Lions players National Conference Pro Bowl players Tennessee Volunteers football players Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio American people of Macedonian descent Businesspeople from Tennessee 20th-century American businesspeople