Alex Wojciechowicz
Encyclopedia
Alexander Francis Wojciechowicz (woʊdʒɨˈhoʊwɨts; August 12, 1915 – July 13, 1992) was a professional American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He was an NFL Hall of Famer as an offensive lineman and linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 for the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

 and Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Producer Danny Arnold, a New Yorker and fan of Fordham University athletics, named one of the detectives on the sitcom Barney Miller
Barney Miller
Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...

Stan Wojciehowicz, in honor of Wojie.

College career

He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...

, the center on the famed Seven Blocks of Granite
Seven Blocks of Granite
The Seven Blocks of Granite was a nickname given to the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The most famous Seven Blocks of Granite were: Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze, Alex Wojciechowicz, Ed Franco, Al Babartsky, Natty...

 offensive line, which included an undersized right guard named Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...

. He was named All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n in 1936 and 1937 and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 in 1955.

Detroit Lions

Wojciechowicz was the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

' first pick in the 1938 NFL Draft
1938 NFL Draft
The 1938 National Football League Draft was held on December 12, 1937. The draft consisting of 12 rounds and 110 player selections, began with the leagues newest expansion team the Cleveland Rams taking Corbett Davis and ended with the Mr...

 and won the starting center job in his first game as a Lion. Even though the Lions were in decline as a team, Alex would play with full effort on both offense and defense. In 1944, he demonstrated his defensive talents when he intercepted seven passes, a Lions record for several years. Although Wojciechowicz received his fair share of personal recognition, he yearned to play on a championship team. That never happened in Detroit. But when he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the middle of the 1946 season, the two-time All-Pro selection joined a team that seemed poised to deliver him his dream.

Philadelphia Eagles

At age 30, Wojciechowicz went to the Eagles as their most well-known defensive player. His veteran leadership made him a major contributor to the Eagles’ championship runs in 1948 and 1949. From the time he was picked as Detroit's number-one draft choice in 1938 until he retired in 1950 after 13 seasons of professional football.

After retirement

He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

 in 1968. A resident of South River, New Jersey
South River, New Jersey
South River is a Borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 15,322....

, he died there on July 13, 1992 at the age of 76.

External links

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