Boni Eli Petcoff (February 1, 1900 – August 5, 1965) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

tackle and coach.

Playing

Petcoff was born in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and came to the United States at age six. He attended Waite High School in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

and played football under Larry Bevan for four years. Playing both guard and tackle, Petcoff was a three-time all-city lineman. He was also captain of the school's basketball team his senior year. Petcoff played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and was captain of the 1923 Ohio State Buckeyes football team. He was also a javelin thrower on Ohio State's track team. He played professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) with the Columbus Tigers from 1924 to 1926. He was selected as a first-team tackle on the 1924 All-Pro Team.

Coaching

Petcoff served as the head football coach at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

from 1926 to 1929, compiling a record of 13–15–1 and winning two Northwest Ohio League championships.

Medicine

Petcoff graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1926. In addition to maintaining a private practice in Toledo, he was also a physician for the Ohio Athletic Commission and the Waite High School football team. In 1942, he was commissioned a captain in the

United States Army Medical Corps The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps (non-combat specialty branch) of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least o ...

. He was a regimental surgeon in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, then served as a mountain district surgeon with the Persian Gulf Command. He was stationed at

Camp Atterbury Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck is a federally owned military post, licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard, located in south-central Indiana, west of Edinburgh, Indiana and U.S. Route 31. The camp's mission is to provide full logis ...

upon his return to the United States and resumed his practice in Toledo after going on terminal leave in 1946.

Personal life and death

In 1935, Petcoff married Hazel Geiner, the longtime registrar at the University of Toledo. In 1962, Petcoff was inducted into the Greater Toledo Sports Hall of Fame. On August 5, 1965, Petcoff collapsed while playing golf at the Heather Downs Country Club and died of a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

en-route to the hospital.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petcoff, Boni 1900 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American physicians American football tackles Bulgarian emigrants to the United States Coaches of American football from Ohio Columbus Tigers players Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ohio State Buckeyes men's track and field athletes Ohio State University College of Medicine alumni Physicians from Ohio Players of American football from Toledo, Ohio Toledo Rockets football coaches United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army Medical Corps officers