Paul Thomas Salata (October 17, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver 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), All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and

Western Interprovincial Football Union The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagu ...

(WIFU). He was born to a Serbian-born father and second generation Serbian-American mother. After his college football days at USC Salata played for the AAFC/NFL's

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

(1949–1950) and the AAFC's Baltimore Colts (1950). After the Colts franchise folded in 1950 he was declared draft-eligible and was subsequently drafted in the tenth round of the

1951 NFL Draft The 1951 National Football League Draft was held January 18–19, 1951, at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. The Baltimore Colts folded after the 1950 season, and the NFL placed their players in the 1951 NFL draft. This was the fifth year that th ...

by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He scored the 49ers final touchdown in the All-American Football Conference, as well as the team's first TD in NFL. He also played three final seasons in Canada including in 1952 with the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

, where he was an all-star, and in 1953 with the Ottawa Rough Riders. In later years, Salata became known for creating the Mr. Irrelevant Award in the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, awarded annually to the last overall pick in the year's draft. After retiring from football, he joined his family's Southern California construction business. He has also acted in a number of Hollywood movies. He played Tony Minelli in '' Angels in the Outfield'' (1951) and appeared, uncredited, in the 1953 film ''

Stalag 17 ''Stalag 17'' is a 1953 American war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner of war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 Sergeants representi ...

'' as a prisoner. Salata died on October 16, 2021, one day before his 95th birthday. He was buried at Pacific View Memorial Park.Paul T. Salata
/ref>

References

1926 births 2021 deaths American football ends Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) players Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park Calgary Stampeders players Ottawa Rough Riders players San Francisco 49ers players USC Trojans baseball players USC Trojans football players Players of American football from Los Angeles American people of Serbian descent Male actors from Los Angeles Players of Canadian football from Los Angeles {{widereceiver-1920s-stub