Paul Herman Seiler (November 1, 1945 – September 25, 2001) 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 ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

who played in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

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 ...

s for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. Born in Algona, Iowa, Seiler played college football at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

and was a member of the school's 1966 team that won the national championship. After playing for a combined 59 minutes in 1964 and 1965 as a backup, he was Notre Dame's starting right tackle in 1966, his senior year. In 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 ...

, the Jets selected him with the 12th overall pick. Seiler played in two games for the Jets in the

1967 AFL season Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, but a leg injury led the Jets to put him on a "waived injured list". In 1968, he joined the

United States 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 ...

and did not play that season. Seiler returned to the Jets in 1969, playing in 11 games. After undergoing offseason leg surgery, the Jets released Seiler before the start of the 1970 season. From 1971 to 1973, Seiler played for the Raiders. He played in 26 games, starting once in 1973, his last NFL season. Seiler was married and had one stepson. After his football career, he lived in the West Coast region and eventually became a church minister in California. On September 25, 2001, Seiler died of colon cancer at the age of 55.

References

External links

NFL.com profile
1945 births 2001 deaths American football offensive linemen New York Jets players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Oakland Raiders players People from Algona, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa {{Offensive-lineman-1940s-stub