Thomas Ralph Schoen (born 1945 or 1946 – January 31, 2023) 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 ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played one season with 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 ( ...

of 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). He was selected by the Browns in the eighth 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 ...

. 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 ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, where he was a consensus All-American in 1967.

Early years

Schoen played quarterback at St. Joseph High School in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio and led the team to a 9–0–1 record his senior year, earning All-Ohio honors.

College career

Schoen joined Notre Dame as a quarterback before being converted to safety his junior and senior seasons. He was a consensus All-American in 1967.

Professional career

Schoen was selected by the

in the eighth round, with the 212th pick, of the

. He did not play until

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

because of military service. While in the military as quarterback, Schoen led the 7th Infantry Division football team to an undefeated 8th Army championship. He was stationed at

Fort Campbell Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee, Clarksville, Tennessee (post address is located in Kentucky). F ...

, Kentucky in 1969 as a private first class. He also served in South Korea in 1969.

Coaching career

Schoen returned to St. Joseph High School to become assistant football coach in 1988. He was named head coach in 1995 and became the school's athletic director in 1998.

Personal life

Schoen died on January 31, 2023.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoen, Tom 1946 births 2023 deaths Players of American football from Cleveland American football defensive backs Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Cleveland Browns players All-American college football players United States Army soldiers American military sports players