Walter Vezmar (January 1, 1925 – May 28, 1981) 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 ...

player. Vezmar was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in 1925 and attended Northeastern High School. He served in the Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He sustained a head injury while serving with the Ranger during the

Battle of Anzio The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

in 1944. After the war, 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 ...

for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. During a game in November 1945, he aggravated his wartime head injury and was advised by doctors to quit the game. He was also declared academically ineligible and signed with 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 ...

in June 1946. He appeared in 11 games for the Lions 1946 at age 21 and also appeared in two games in 1947. He was Rookie of the Year with the Lions. In 1948 and 1949, he played for the

Paterson Panthers The Passaic Red Devils (also known as the ''Reds'') were an American basketball team based in the Bronx, New York that was a member of the American Basketball League. The team was previously known as the Trenton Bengals The Trenton Bengals was t ...

of the American Football League. He also played for the New York Yaks in 1949. In 1951, he enlisted in the Air Force. He later became a minister with the Baptist church. He died in 1981 in

Pollock, Louisiana Pollock is a small town in Grant Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Alexandria, Louisiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 469 as of the 2010 census, up from 376 in 2000. Pollock and southern Grant Parish have b ...

References

1925 births 1981 deaths American football guards Michigan State Spartans football players Detroit Lions players Players of American football from Detroit Northeastern High School (Michigan) alumni {{Amfoot-bio-stub