1. Bradford Sterling Ecklund was a center in the All-America Football Conference and in the National Football League.
19 Facts About Brad Ecklund
1. 2.
Brad Ecklund was chosen twice to play in the Pro Bowl.
3.
Brad Ecklund was born in Los Angeles and died in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey.
4.
Brad Ecklund matriculated at Oregon in 1941, expecting to play fullback.
5.
Brad Ecklund started every game, but flunked out of school.
6.
Brad Ecklund took up boxing for fun, becoming the Marine Corps Golden Gloves champion.
7.
Brad Ecklund played for the Naval Air Station football team in Jacksonville, Florida for two years, before being dispatched for overseas duty at Okinawa.
8.
Brad Ecklund learned what it meant to be a member of team in the South Pacific, fighting in interminable battles from island to island.
9.
Brad Ecklund graduated from Oregon in 1949 with degrees in health and physical education.
10.
Brad Ecklund was a charter member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
11.
Brad Ecklund passed up a contract offer from the Green Bay Packers, choosing to join the upstart All-America Football Conference's New York Yankees for more money.
12.
Brad Ecklund stayed with the team after the AAFC-NFL merger, through its sale and relocation to Dallas, then signed with the Baltimore Colts.
13.
In 1953, Brad Ecklund was named the most valuable offensive lineman of the Colts, an honor for which he received all of $100.
14.
Brad Ecklund then moved to Roseburg High School for one year, where his team was a runner-up to the league champions.
15.
In 1958, Brad Ecklund was hired as an assistant to the University of Oregon by Len Casanova.
16.
Brad Ecklund jumped to the NFL in 1960, where Tom Landry hired him for the Dallas Cowboys inaugural season, becoming the first offensive line coach in franchise history.
17.
Brad Ecklund moved to the new Atlanta team in 1966, where he coached under his former Oregon teammate Norm Van Brocklin.
18.
Brad Ecklund later coached at New Orleans, Philadelphia and Chicago.
19.
Brad Ecklund retired from coaching in 1979, and spent most of the rest of his working life as a substitute teacher in the Philadelphia area as well as the Southern California area, specifically in Orange, California, in 1981.