Roger Zatkoff (March 25, 1931 – November 4, 2021) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and businessman. A native of

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of Hi ...

, Zatkoff 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 ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

from 1950 to 1952 and was selected as a first-team all-conference player in the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in both

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. He later 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) for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

from 1953 to 1956 and 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 ...

in 1957 and 1958. He was selected as an

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

player in 1954 ( UP first-team, AP second-team), 1955 (AP and TSN first-team), 1956 ( NEA second-team). He was also a member of the 1957 Detroit Lions team that won the NFL championship. After retiring from football, Zatkoff operated a manufacturing supply company based in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

area. The company became the largest independent distributor of seals in North America.

Early years

Zatkoff was born in

, in 1931. He played at the fullback position at

Hamtramck High School Hamtramck High School is a public high school in Hamtramck, Michigan, United States in Metro Detroit. It is a part of Hamtramck Public Schools. History Hamtramck High School was originally located on Wyandotte and Hewitt Streets. In 1925 655 stu ...

University of Michigan

Zatkoff enrolled at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1949 and played

for

Bennie Oosterbaan Benjamin Oosterbaan ( ; February 24, 1906 – October 25, 1990) was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, two-time All-American basketball player for the basketball team, and an All-Big Ten C ...

's Wolverines teams from 1950 to 1952. As a freshman, he was awarded the Meyer Morton Award as the freshman player showing the most promise. He started nine games at linebacker for the 1950 Wolverines squad that defeated Ohio State in the famous Snow Bowl game, won the Big ten championship, and defeated the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

in the

1951 Rose Bowl The 1951 Rose Bowl was the 37th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Monday, January 1. The ninth-ranked Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, defeated the California Go ...

. He started all nine games at linebacker for the 1951 Wolverines, and he was selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

as a first-team linebacker on the 1951 All-Big Ten Conference football team. As a senior in 1952, he started all nine games for Michigan at the linebacker position and was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten player by both the Associated Press and

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

. Zatkoff was inducted into the

University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs.

in 1985.

Professional football

Zatkoff was selected by the

in the fifth round (55th overall pick) of the

1953 NFL Draft The 1953 National Football League Draft was held on January 22, 1953, at Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Selections made by the folded Dallas Texans were assigned to the new Baltimore Colts. This was the seventh year that the first ove ...

. He played

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 ...

for the Packers and appeared in 48 games from 1953 to 1956. The Packers ranked in the NFL's lower tier while Zatkoff was with them, finishing 2–9–1 in 1953, 4–8 in 1954, 6–6 in 1955, and 4–8 in 1956. Despite the Packers' woes, Zatkoff earned a reputation as one of the best linebackers in the NFL in the mid-1950s and was selected as an All-Pro player in 1954 ( UP first-team, AP second-team), 1955 (AP and TSN first-team), 1956 ( NEA second-team). In April 1957, the Packers traded Zatkoff and

Bobby Garrett Robert Driscoll Garrett (August 16, 1932 – 5 December 1987) was an American football quarterback who played for Stanford University and played one season in the National Football League. He is a member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. ...

to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in exchange for six players, including

Babe Parilli Vito "Babe" Parilli (May 7, 1930 – July 15, 2017) was an American football quarterback and coach who played professionally for 18 seasons. Parilli spent five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), three in the Canadian Football League ( ...

. Zatkoff announced that, for family and business reasons, he would retire rather than play for the Browns. The Browns tried to trade Zatkoff to the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, but Zatkoff refused to join the Rams, and the deal was called off. In September 1957, the Browns finally traded Zatkoff to the

, the team Zatkoff preferred, in exchange for

Lew Carpenter Lewis Glen Carpenter (January 12, 1932 – November 14, 2010) was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the University of Arkansas and professionally for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as a ...

, the Lions' leading rusher in 1954 and 1955, and a future draft pick. He was a starting player on the 1957 Detroit Lions team that won the NFL championship. He also appeared in all 12 games for the Lions in 1958. In March 1959, Zatkoff announced that he was retiring from football to focus on business.

Later years

In 1959, Zatkoff formed a company known as Zatkoff Seals & Packings, a supplier to manufacturing companies in the Detroit and Toledo areas. The company grew to eight locations in three states and became "the largest independent distributor of seals in North America." Other companies include Zatkoff Properties, Ltd., and the Roger Zatkoff Company. Zatkoff is the great uncle of

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Jeff Zatkoff Jeff Zatkoff (born June 9, 1987) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played for the Straubing Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career As a youth, ...

of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

Roger Zatkoff Award

Since 1991, the University of Michigan has presented the Roger Zatkoff Award to the Michigan Wolverines football team's best linebacker at the end of each season. The past winners are listed below.

References