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CHUCK BEDNARIK

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He was the last of the Sixty Minute Men. Chuck Bednarik played both ways for much of his college and pro careers. As a starting center and middle linebacker, "Concrete Charley" would get 'em coming and going. One of his career highlights was the 1960 Eastern Conference Championship game where his Philidelphia Eagles took on the Green Bay Packers. At age 35 and still pounding, he played almost every minute of that game. Chuck's game-saving tackle of Jim Taylor resulted in a win for the Eagles. That 58-minute performance gained him a $250 bonus and an All-Pro selection as linebacker.

It was another game-saving tackle for which Chuck Bednarik would most be remembered: the "guy he put to sleep", NY Giants' Frank Gifford was on the injured list for a year after meeting Iron Man Bednarik on the field. "It was one of the hardest tackles I ever made, but it was a clean shot", says Chuck. Not knowing the extent of Gifford's injury, Chuck was criticized for his on-field celebration after the clean hit.

It was WWII that brought Chuck Bednarik to football. As a high school athlete, he was an exceptional baseball and basketball player, but moderately above average in football. When the war came around Chuck joined up with the Air Force. He was a waist-gunner on a B-24 and took part in 30 bombing missions over Nazi Germany. Those missions (more than 50 aerial missions in all) earned him the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters and five battle stars. Just the first of the many awards Chuck Bednarik would receive throughout his life.

After the war, Chuck decided to leave baseball and basketball behind and give football the old college try. He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945, and as a natural athlete, gained rapid notice. He was starting center by the third game of his freshman year. By the time he was a junior he was voted All-American. Senior year saw the same award as well as the Maxwell Trophy for his performance as a lineman. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

Bednarik was selected as a bonus pick in the first round of the 1949 draft by the champion Philidelphia Eagles, and stayed with that team for the next fourteen years, missing only three regular season games in all. The first two seasons of his tenure with the Eagles were as starting offensive center - a position for which he was awarded the AP All-Pro. Later as a linebacker, he was named All-Pro for six consecutive years, from 1951-1956. His intense on-field commitment to his team's victory met no match, whether on offense or defense. He was elected to the Pro Hall of Fame in 1967

These days Chuck Bednarik is Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission. He is a man of commitment: he has held that post for tweny years, and is married to his childhood sweetheart, Emma with whom he has five daughters. Like many of us, Chuck is also committed to lowering his golf scores!