Paul Michael "Socko" Szakash (May 5, 1913 – October 24, 1984) 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. Szakash was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1913. He attended

Fenger High School Fenger Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Roseland neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Fenger is a part of the Chicago Public Schools district. The school is named for Danish su ...

in Chicago. He played football at Fenger in 1929 and 1930 and then for the Gano Athletic Club from 1934 to 1937. He next attended the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

and played college football as a fullback and place-kicker for the

Montana Grizzlies football The Montana Grizzlies football (commonly referred to as the "Griz") program represents the University of Montana in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of college football. The Grizzlies have competed in the Big Sky Conference ...

team. After playing every minute of every game in 1935, he missed the 1936 season after sustaining a ruptured appendix. During his recovery, he helped coach the freshmen. He returned to the team as a player in 1937. He was selected by 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 ...

with the 56th pick in the 1938 NFL Draft. During his first training camp with the Lions, the ''Detroit Free Press'' reported that he "showed more drive in plunging than any other young man who ever came to the Detroit camp." He played four seasons with the Lions, appearing in 38 games, 13 as a starter, from 1938 to 1939 and 1941 to 1942. He played at the end and fullback positions. He carried the ball 23 times for 66 yards and caught nine passes for 130 yards. Szakash also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

as a catcher for the Missoula club for several years. He missed the 1940 NFL season with a fractured ankle sustained while playing baseball in Montana. In March 1945, Szakash enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. He fought at the

Battle of Iwo Jima The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJ ...

. He also saw action at the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. Szakash served as the line coach at the University of Montana from 1946 to 1950. Szakash later operated a frozen food business. He died in 1984 at

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Szakash, Paul 1913 births 1984 deaths American football ends American football fullbacks Detroit Lions players Montana Grizzlies football players United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Chicago Military personnel from Illinois