Daniel Atwood McGrew (April 7, 1937 – November 7, 2019) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Purdue University

During his college years, McGrew was a center at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

NFL

McGrew was drafted by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

in 1959, but in the following year was taken by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

during their inaugural season, when he played in all 14 games and was their starting center. Although he ended up as an

All-AFL '' The Sporting News'' published an American Football League All-League Team, often referred to as All-AFL, for each season played by the American Football League (AFL), 1960 through 1969. From 1960 through 1966, the All-League team was selected by ...

2nd team member, he was replaced the following year by rookie Al Bemiller and never played in another game in the NFL.

Semi-pro

McGrew went on to play on the semi-pro level with the

Wheeling Ironmen The Wheeling Ironmen were a professional American football team based in Wheeling, West Virginia, and played their home games at Wheeling Island Stadium. The team began play in 1962 as a member of the United Football League, where they played fo ...

. On June 13, 2009, McGrew was one of eight new members in the 29th class to be inducted into the Minor Pro Football Hall of Fame.

High school coaching

McGrew later coached football on the high school level. He coached at Chipticon High School where his team won a SMAC championship. During this time, he was a ninth grade gym teacher, retiring from

Weir High School Weir High School is a secondary public high school in the town of Weirton, West Virginia. It was established in 1916. Today, Weir High School is home to roughly 601 students in grades 9 through 12. It is a part of the Hancock County school distric ...

after the 1998–99 school year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrew, Dan 1937 births 2019 deaths American football centers American Football League players Buffalo Bills players Purdue Boilermakers football players High school football coaches in West Virginia Sportspeople from Martins Ferry, Ohio Players of American football from Belmont County, Ohio