Loading AI tools
American football player (1941–1998) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lionel Aldridge (February 14, 1941 – February 12, 1998) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.[1][2][3] He played college football for the Utah State Aggies.
Aldridge, circa 1962 | |||||||||
| No. 82 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | February 14, 1941 Evergreen, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | February 12, 1998 (aged 56) Shorewood, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 254 lb (115 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Pittsburg (Pittsburg, California) | ||||||||
| College: | Utah State | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1963 / round: 4 / pick: 54 | ||||||||
| AFL draft: | 1963 / round: 6 / pick: 47 (By the Houston Oilers) | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Born in Evergreen, Louisiana, Aldridge was raised by his sharecropper grandparents.[4] After his grandfather's death when Aldridge was 15, he was sent to live with a steelworker uncle in Northern California and played high school football at Pittsburg High School.[5] He earned an athletic scholarship and played college football at Utah State University in Logan, Utah[6] and was co-captain of the team and an All-Skyline Conference tackle.
Aldridge was selected in the fourth round of the 1963 NFL draft, 54th overall, by the two-time defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers. One of the few rookies to start for head coach Vince Lombardi, he enjoyed an 11-year NFL career.[7] As a Packer, he played a role in their unprecedented three straight NFL Championships (1965-66-67) and victories in Super Bowls I and II.[8] Traded to the San Diego Chargers, Aldridge played two seasons in San Diego before retiring from professional football in 1973.[1] He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1988.[9]
After retiring, Aldridge worked as sports analyst at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and for Packers radio and NBC until manifesting paranoid schizophrenia in the late 1970s.[10][11][2] Homeless for a time in part due to misdiagnosis,[8][12][13] he eventually reached a form of equilibrium. He became an advocate for the homeless and the mentally ill until his death in 1998.[14][15] His advocacy work included serving as a board member for the Mental Health Association of Milwaukee and working as a speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.[16]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
