Terry Lynn Tautolo (born August 30, 1954) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

who played nine seasons 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

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. He 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 ...

University of California, Los Angeles 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 ...

(UCLA) and was drafted in the 13th round of the

1976 NFL draft The 1976 National Football League draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks m ...

. On December 16, 2013, GQ.com's internet show "Casualties of the Gridiron" reported that Tautolo was homeless and involved in substance abuse. Tautolo's former teammates learned of his dire situation and put out a call for help. With the help of his former UCLA teammate Brent Boyd and head coach

Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Lou ...

and the NFLPA, he turned his life around and currently works with special needs children.

Personal life

Tautolo is the older brother of former NFL offensive guard,

John Tautolo John Tautolo (born May 29, 1959) is a former American football guard. He played for the New York Giants from 1982 to 1983, the Portland Breakers in 1985 and for the Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American foot ...

References

1954 births Living people American football linebackers Millikan High School alumni Detroit Lions players Miami Dolphins players Philadelphia Eagles players San Francisco 49ers players UCLA Bruins football players Players of American football from Corona, California Players of American football from Long Beach, California American sportspeople of Samoan descent {{linebacker-1950s-stub