Thomas E. Beer (born March 27, 1969) is a former

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) player.

Playing career

Beer played high school football at Elkton-

Pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

- Bay Port High School, a consolidated high school in

the thumb The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten. The Thumb area is generally considered to be in the Central Michigan region, east of the Tri-Cities and north of M ...

area of Michigan. He went on to play college football for

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, approximately north of ...

before transferring to

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. Beer was drafted in the seventh round of the

1994 NFL draft The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Mar ...

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 ...

. He played fullback in 1994, and linebacker in 1995 and 1996. During his time with the Lions, Beer was among the team leaders in

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles. He started one game at

strongside 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 ...

during the 1996 season. Beer's career ended following the 1996 season. Doctors had recommended retirement following a series of neurological testing.

Personal life

Beer is not related to the earlier NFL player named

Tom Beer Thomas John Beer (born December 21, 1944) is an American football player who played at the University of Houston and professionally for the Denver Broncos of the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL)'s Boston / ...

. Beer has participated in Lions alumni and charity events since his retirement.

References

External links

Tom E. Beer statistics
at databasefootball.com
Lions host former stars for alumni day festivities
''www.DetroitLions.com'' 1969 births Living people Detroit Lions players Wayne State Warriors football players Saginaw Valley State Cardinals football players People from Huron County, Michigan {{linebacker-1960s-stub