Thomas Joseph Beutler (born September 29, 1946) 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 ...

player. Beutler was born in Bluffton, Ohio, and attended Catholic Central High School in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. He played college football for the Toledo Rockets from 1964 to 1967. Toledo coach

Frank Lauterbur Francis Xavier Lauterbur (August 8, 1925 – November 20, 2013) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Toledo from 1963 to 1970 and at the University of Iowa from 1971 to 1973, compiling a care ...

called him "the finest lineman I ever coached." Beutler was selected by 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 the 12th round of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

by the

. He tried out with the Browns in 1968 but was relegated to the reserve squad after sustaining a hamstring injury. He returned to the practice squad again in 1969 after pulling as stomach muscle. In 1970, he survived the final cuts and played as a middle linebacker for the Browns, appearing in four games. Prior to the 1971 season, the Browns traded Beutler to 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 ...

. At Baltimore, he played mostly on special teams and earned a reputation as a hard tackler. He appearing in four games. During the 1970 and 1971 seasons, he appeared in eight NFL games, five of them as a starter. Beutler also played for the

Memphis Southmen The Memphis Southmen, also known as the Memphis Grizzlies, were an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. They played in the World Football League (WFL), which operated in 1974 and 1975. They played their home games at Liberty Bowl M ...

in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

in 1974. He announced his retirement from professional football in June 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beutler, Tom 1946 births Living people American football linebackers Cleveland Browns players Baltimore Colts players Memphis Southmen players Toledo Rockets football players Players of American football from Ohio People from Bluffton, Ohio