John Bighead (April 23, 1930 – April 28, 1993) 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. A

Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...

Indian, he starred in football at L.A. Poly High in the 1940s and 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). He was a 1948 graduate of

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

, whereat he earned Little All America honors in football and track. After serving in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Navy, he played two years in the NFL. He was drafted in the 15th round of the

1952 NFL draft The 1952 NFL draft was held on January 17, 1952, at Hotel Statler in New York. Selections made by New York Yanks were assigned to the new Dallas Texans. This was the sixth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery ...

by the Dallas Texans. Bighead then played professionally for the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

in 1954 and the

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

in 1955. He was the starter for the Rams before a career-ending leg injury. He played one season in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1956. Bighead joined the teaching and coaching staff of the Anaheim Union High School District in 1957, and worked at

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

, and Katella high schools before retiring in 1987.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bighead, John Jack 1930 births 1993 deaths American football ends Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Baltimore Colts players Los Angeles Rams players Pepperdine Waves football players Pepperdine Waves men's track and field athletes Players of American football from Los Angeles People from Sapulpa, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Native American players of American football