60 Facts About Lou Groza

Lou Groza played in 21 seasons for the Browns, helping the team to win eight league championships in that span.

Lou Groza set numerous records for distance and number of field goals kicked during his career.

Lou Groza grew up in an athletic family in Martins Ferry, Ohio.

Lou Groza enrolled at Ohio State University on a scholarship in 1942, but after just one year in college, he enlisted in the US Army and was sent to serve in World War II.

Lou Groza deployed as an army surgical technician in the Pacific theater, where he stayed until returning in 1946 to play for the Browns.

Lou Groza set NFL records for field goals made in 1950,1952 and 1953.

Lou Groza retired briefly after the 1959 season due to a back injury, but returned in 1961.

Lou Groza was part of a 1964 team that won another NFL championship.

Lou Groza was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

Lou Groza was the smallest in stature of four boys in an athletic family; his brother Alex became a star basketball player at the University of Kentucky, a member of two national championship teams.

Lou Groza lettered in football, basketball, and baseball at Martins Ferry High School.

The Purple Riders won the state basketball championship in 1941, when Lou Groza was its captain.

Lou Groza learned placekicking from his older brother Frank, and practiced by trying to kick balls over telephone wires when he and his friends played touch football in the street.

Lou Groza graduated from high school in 1942 and enrolled on an athletic scholarship at the Ohio State University in Columbus, where he played as a tackle and placekicker on the Buckeyes' freshman team.

Lou Groza played in three games and kicked five field goals, including one from 45 yards away.

Lou Groza first went for basic training to Abilene, Texas, and then to the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

The day he landed in the Philippines, Lou Groza saw a soldier shot in the face.

Lou Groza was stationed in a bank of tents about five miles from the front lines and helped doctors tend to the wounded.

Lou Groza signed the contract in May 1945 and agreed to join the team, called the Cleveland Browns, after the war ended in 1946.

Lou Groza got $500 a month stipend until the end of the war and a $7,500 annual salary.

Lou Groza showed up in army fatigues carrying all his clothes in a duffel bag.

Lou Groza was mainly a placekicker in his first two years with the Browns, but he played a big part in the team's early success.

Lou Groza was injured and could only watch as the team won its second championship in a row.

Lou Groza led the league in field goals and the team won all of its games in 1948, recording professional football's first perfect season.

One highlight of that year for Lou Groza was a 53-yard field goal against the AAFC's Brooklyn Dodgers that was then the longest kick in pro football history.

Lou Groza graduated with a degree in business in 1949.

Lou Groza scored the only touchdown of his career in that game on a reception from Graham.

That forced a playoff against the Giants in which Lou Groza kicked the winning field goal for the Browns with under a minute to play.

Lou Groza came into the game as the NFL's leading kicker, both in terms of points scored and accuracy.

Lou Groza had a 52-yard field goal in the game, a record for a championship or Super Bowl that stood for 42 years.

Lou Groza was again named to the Pro Bowl after the season.

Lou Groza was playing with cracked ribs in the 1952 championship loss, and he missed three field goals.

Lou Groza made the Pro Bowl again in 1952 and 1953, and was a first-team All-Pro selection both years.

That year, Lou Groza was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player by Sporting News.

Lou Groza was named to the Pro Bowl and sportswriters' All-Pro teams in 1954 and 1955.

Lou Groza's kicking continued to be a strength through the ensuing three years: he reached the Pro Bowl in 1957,1958 and 1959, and tied Sam Baker for league leader in points scored in 1957.

Lou Groza sat out after the 1959 season due to a back injury and was presumed to be retired.

Lou Groza took 1960 off and did some scouting for the team.

Lou Groza stayed with the team as a placekicker until 1967, and was on a Browns team that won the 1964 championship.

Lou Groza scored the first points in that game on a third-quarter field goal.

Lou Groza kicked four kickoffs more than 70 yards and out of the Baltimore Colts end zone, preventing a return.

When Lou Groza retired for good in 1968 after 21 seasons in professional football, he held NFL career records for points scored, field goals made and extra points made.

Lou Groza had 234 field goals, 641 extra points, and 1,349 total points in the NFL.

Lou Groza was the last of the original Browns still on the team.

Lou Groza was offered a spot with the Browns as a kicking coach, helping mentor the young Don Cockroft, but he declined.

Lou Groza continued to run a successful insurance business and lived in Berea, Ohio near the Browns' headquarters and training facility.

Lou Groza was hobbled in the late 1990s by back and hip surgeries and Parkinson's disease.

Lou Groza suffered a heart attack in 2000 after dinner with his wife at Columbia Hills Country Club in Columbia Station, Ohio.

Lou Groza was taken to a hospital in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, where he died.

Lou Groza was buried in Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmsted, Ohio.

Lou Groza set single-season NFL records for accuracy, distance and number of field goals in his first three years in the league, marks that went unbeaten until kicking specialists became a common feature of the game in the early 1970s.

Lou Groza led the NFL in field goals made five times in his career.

Lou Groza approached the football in a straight line and booted it with the top of his foot, aiming for the middle of the ball.

Lou Groza was named to the National Football League 1950s All-Decade Team in 1969 and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

In 1992, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission established the Lou Groza Award, given to the best National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision kicker.

In 1941 as a junior, Lou Groza led the Martins Ferry High School basketball team to the class A championship.

Lou Groza set a State record for points scored in the four tournament games with 51.

Lou Groza was named tournament MVP, a member of the All-State Tournament Team, and first-team All-Ohio center.

Lou Groza started as offensive and defensive tackle as well as being the place kicker.

Lou Groza was selected first-team All-Ohio by both the Associated Press and United Press International.