George Vincent Lilja is a former professional
American footballAmerican 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...
offensive lineman who played for several
National Football LeagueThe 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...
teams over the course of six seasons. He is also a former collegiate All-American
centerCenter is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...
for the
Michigan Wolverines footballThe Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
team. He was a member of the 1980
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
Champions who played in the 1981 Rose Bowl.
Lilja attended
Carl Sandburg High SchoolCarl Sandburg High School, Sandburg, or CSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of La Grange Road and 131st Street in Orland Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230, which also...
in
Orland Park, IllinoisOrland Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States; it also extends slightly into Will County. The population was 56,767 at the 2010 census. The office of the Assistant Village Manager, Ellen Baer, states that the Will County section of Orland Park is industrial while the Cook County...
where he was both a
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and football standout before enrolling at the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
.
