Steve Vincent Jastrzembski (August 27, 1939 – January 14, 2009) 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 ...

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

who 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

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

. He was selected in both the

1961 NFL Draft The 1961 National Football League draft took place at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia on December 27–28, 1960. The league would later hold an expansion draft for the Minnesota Vikings expansion franchise. This draft was also the first regula ...

and

1962 AFL Draft The 1962 American Football League draft was held on December 2, 1961. With the first overall pick, the Oakland Raiders selected quarterback Roman Gabriel. Order Boston Patriots draft picks (selected sixth) Buffalo Bills draft picks (selec ...

, but did not play professionally.

Early life and education

Jastrzembski was born on August 27, 1939, in

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania Vandergrift is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, approximately northeast of Pittsburgh. Early in the 20th century, it had the largest sheet steel mill in the world. On June 28, 1915, the Borough of Vandergrift ...

. He attended Vandergrift High School, graduating in 1957, before joining the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. During his first two years with the team, he did not see much action and was a backup

. He developed into one of the favorite targets of

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Ivan Toncic in 1959, along with future

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

, who also played the end position. In a week-three 25–21 comeback win over

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Jastrzembski caught the game-winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

from Toncic with seconds left, and was carried off the field by teammates. He totaled 105 receiving yards on five receptions against UCLA, earning him "

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

of the week" honors from his conference. Early in his career with Pittsburgh, Jastrzembski had "butter fingers now and then", but became better at catching the ball after taping his hands prior to each game, something he read

Raymond Berry Raymond Emmett Berry Jr. (born February 27, 1933) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a split end for the Baltimore Colts from 1955 to 1967, and after several assist ...

had done. At the school, he was nicknamed "Jazz", as many of his teammates and teachers could not correctly pronounce his surname. "For one professor, I had to pronounce my name every day," Jastrzembski said. "He'd say, 'Oh, I've got it now,' and then mispronounce it again. I felt like telling him, 'Just call me Jazz.'" As a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

in 1960, he finished the season with second-team all-state honors, only behind teammate Mike Ditka. He earned a starting role in 1961, after Ditka graduated.

Professional career

Jastrzembski was drafted in both the

(by the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

) and the

(by the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

), but declined both teams' offers. He instead signed a contract in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Later life and death

After being released by the Argonauts, he returned to the University of Pittsburgh in 1963, studying at their

dental school A dental school (school of dental medicine, school of dentistry, dental college) is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches dental medicine to prospective dentists and potentially other dental auxiliaries ...

. After his graduating in 1965, he served 25 years in 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 ...

, retiring at the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. For the last eight years of his life, he was a pediatric dentist in the army, stationed in

Wiesbaden, Germany Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. He died on January 14, 2009, at the age of 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jastrzembski, Steve 1939 births 2009 deaths People from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania American dentists American football ends Pittsburgh Panthers football players Toronto Argonauts players University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine alumni