Keith Elmore "Pinky" Christensen (May 10, 1947 – February 17, 2023) was a college and professional football player in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Christensen played at offensive tackle at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

where he was coached first by Jack Mitchell and later by

Pepper Rodgers Franklin Cullen "Pepper" Rodgers (October 8, 1931 – May 14, 2020) was an American football player and coach. As a college football player, he led the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to an undefeated season in 1952 and later became their hea ...

. Christensen was drafted by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in the fifth round of the

1969 NFL 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 ...

. He was the 117th player drafted overall. He then went to the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

where he played for the 1970 and 1971 seasons. He married Jane M McConahey on August 3, 1968. After his retirement from professional football, he returned to his hometown of

Concordia, Kansas Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, United States. It is located along the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains in North Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

, where he played high school football at

Concordia Junior-Senior High School Concordia Junior-Senior High School is a public secondary school in Concordia, Kansas, United States operated by Concordia USD 333, and serves students of grades 7 to 12. It is called the "Junior-Senior" high school because the junior high sc ...

References

1947 births 2023 deaths Edmonton Elks players Kansas Jayhawks football players People from Concordia, Kansas {{collegefootball-player-stub