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Edward Joseph Podolak (born September 1, 1947) is a former professional American football player, a running back for nine seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs of the
American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...
and National Football League.


Early years

Ed Podolak was born on a small farm near
Atlantic, Iowa Atlantic is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Iowa, United States, located along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 6,792 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 7,257 population in 2000. History Atlantic was founde ...
on September 1, 1947. His father, Joe was a farmer and a military veteran and his mother Dorothy was a school teacher. Ed worked on the farm, played baseball in the summer, football in the fall, and basketball in the winter, his parents allowing him to curtail his farm work during his athletic events. The Atlantic High School Trojan football teams went undefeated in Podolak's junior and senior seasons, as Ed quarterbacked the team, winning conference titles both years. The Atlantic Trojan basketball team made it to two state tournament appearances, with Podolak playing forward. Following high school, Iowa State University hired Podolak's high school coach, Howard Justice, to coach quarterbacks, but Podolak chose to attend the University of Iowa.


College football career

In this era, college freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports, but Podolak won the starting quarterback job for Iowa as a sophomore. In his first college start, Podolak was named “Offensive Player of the Week” after the game against the
Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...
, a 42–7 Iowa victory. After starting at quarterback for two and a half years for the Hawkeyes, he moved to tailback, five games into his senior season, because of an injury to the starting tailback. He set a Hawkeye and Big 10 rushing record of 286 yards in his second start at running back. In Podolak's
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
career at the University of Iowa, he was a quarterback for two seasons before converting to running back. As a quarterback, Podolak threw 28 interceptions and 8 touchdowns, but he excelled as a running back in 1968, rushing for 937 yards and 8 touchdowns with an average of 6 yards per carry, while also catching 12 passes for 188 yards and another score. In 1968, Podolak rushed for a then–Big Ten record with 286 yards on 17 carries in an Iowa 68–34 victory over Northwestern. Podolak earned All–Big 10 honors following the 1968 season.


Professional football career

Podolak was selected in the
second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...
of the
1969 NFL/AFL draft The 1969 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League (AFL) held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place January 28–29, 1969. The draft beg ...
, 48th overall, by the Kansas City Chiefs, and the team won
Super Bowl IV Super Bowl IV was an American football game played on January 11, 1970 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fourth and final AFL–NFL World Championship Game in professional football prior to the AFL–NFL merger taking eff ...
in his rookie season. During a nine-year career from
1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
to
1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
, Podolak became the Chiefs' second all-time leading rusher with 4,451 yards and 34 touchdowns on 1,158 carries. He was also known for his work as a pass receiver, catching 288 passes for 2,456 yards and 6 touchdowns and as a return man on special teams, averaging 8.6 yards per punt and 20.5 yards per kickoff return. His 8,178 career combined yards are the second-most in the team's history. Podolak led the Chiefs in rushing four times, in receiving three times, and in punt returns three times. In the Chiefs' playoff loss to the Miami Dolphins on Christmas Day in 1971 (still the longest game in NFL history), Podolak had a playoff-record 350 total yards: 85 rushing, 110 receiving, and 155 on returns. Podolak, who wore jersey number 14, was inducted into the Chiefs' Hall of Fame in 1989.


Broadcasting career

After retirement, Podolak turned to broadcasting. He worked as a color commentator for NFL telecasts on NBC in 1978. In 1982, he began working as a commentator for Iowa Hawkeye football games on WHO radio in
Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
and a statewide network. He worked with play-by-play announcer Jim Zabel until 1996 and then with Gary Dolphin.


Awards and honors

*Podolak was inducted into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1989. *The Iowa High School Athletic Association inducted Podolak into its Football Hall of Fame in 2004. *In 2014, Podolak was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. *Podolak was inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.


See also

* List of American Football League players


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Podolak, Ed 1947 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football running backs Iowa Hawkeyes football announcers Iowa Hawkeyes football players Kansas City Chiefs players National Football League announcers People from Atlantic, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa American Football League players