Fred Oscar "Fritz" Loven (June 11, 1894 – November 1, 1975) 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 ...

player. He played professional football for the

Minneapolis Red Jackets The Minneapolis Marines were an early professional football team that existed from 1905 until 1928. The team did not play in 1918 or 1925 to 1926 and was later resurrected from 1929 to 1930 under the Minneapolis Red Jackets name. The Marines were ...

in 1929 and thereafter lived for more than 40 years a life of "socialized exclusion" in a cabin in the woods.

Early years

Loven was born in 1894 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Professional football

In 1920, Loven played professional football at the tackle position for the Liberty football team in Minnesota. He also played 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) as a guard for the

. He made his NFL debut at age 35 in 1929 and appeared in eight NFL games, five as a starter. Loven also completed athletically as a boxer and swimmer.

Later years and legacy

Loven lived for more than 40 years, starting in 1932, in a cabin on 80 acres in

Lake Shore, Minnesota Lake Shore is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,056 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Lake Shore was incorporated on March 19, 1947. Geography Accordi ...

. In a 1973 profile of Loven published in the ''North Country Anvil'', his lifestyle was described as one of "socialized exclusion". He died in 1975 at

Cass County, Minnesota Cass County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Walker. The county was formed in 1851, and was organized in 1897. Cass County is included in the ...

. He left his property to the state which has since been operated as Fritz Loven Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loven, Fritz 1894 births 1975 deaths Minneapolis Red Jackets players Players of American football from Minnesota Players of American football from Minneapolis