Eugene Allen "Gene" Lipscomb (August 9, 1931 – May 10, 1963) was an

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

defensive tackle in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for ten seasons and a

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He was known by the nickname "Big Daddy".

Early life

Born in

Uniontown, Alabama Uniontown is a city in Perry County, Alabama, in west-central Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 2,107, up 18.7% over 2010. Of the 573 cities in Alabama, Uniontown is the 207th most populous. Uniontown has four sites li ...

, Lipscomb never knew his father, and moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, at age three with his mother. When he was eleven, his mother was murdered in the neighborhood where they lived, and he moved in with his maternal grandparents.

Professional career

After graduating from Miller High School, Lipscomb did not attend college and instead served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

, where he was stationed at

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

and played on the camp's football team. Signed as an

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

in 1953, Lipscomb played for them through

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yiji ...

, then was

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United S ...

in September

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

and claimed by the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

. In two of his five seasons there, 1958 and

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, he earned a spot in the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

, and was instrumental in the Colts' two consecutive NFL championships in 1958 and

, playing alongside

hall of famers A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Gino Marchetti Gino John Marchetti (January 2, 1926 – April 29, 2019) was an American professional American football, football player who was a defensive end and Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) ...

and

Art Donovan Arthur James Donovan Jr. (June 5, 1924 – August 4, 2013), nicknamed the Bulldog, was an American football defensive tackle who played for three National Football League (NFL) teams, most notably the Baltimore Colts. He was inducted into the Pr ...

. In July

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, Lipscomb was traded to the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

with center

Buzz Nutter Madison Monroe "Buzz" Nutter (February 16, 1931 – April 12, 2008) was an American football center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at Virginia Tech. Early ...

for receiver

Jimmy Orr Jimmy Orr (October 4, 1935 – October 27, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts for 13 seasons from 1958 to 1970 in the National Football League (NFL). Orr w ...

, defensive tackle Joe Lewis, and linebacker Dick Campbell. Lipscomb's final NFL game was after the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

season at the

in January 1963, in which he was voted lineman of the game. During the 1959–60 and 1960–61 off-seasons, he was a

. The

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/hist ...

named Lipscomb to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2006. In 2019, despite currently not being in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coac ...

, he was chosen as a finalist for the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team

Death

On May 10, 1963, Lipscomb died of an overdose of heroin, on Brice Street in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, at the apartment of Timothy Black. His funeral was in Detroit and he was buried at Lincoln Park Memorial Cemetery.

References

External links

Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
– Eugene Allen (Gene) Lipscomb
Steeler Nation
– Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipscomb, Eugene 1931 births 1963 deaths American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Baltimore Colts players Los Angeles Rams players Pittsburgh Steelers players Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Western Conference Pro Bowl players People from Uniontown, Alabama Players of American football from Detroit African-American players of American football Deaths by heroin overdose in the United States Drug-related deaths in Maryland United States Marines 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Early life

Professional career

Death

Further reading

References

External links