Larry Michael Kaminski (born January 6, 1945) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

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, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) and

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 played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname ...

Early life

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

descent, Kaminski is originally from

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, where he attended Cathedral Latin High School. As captain of the Lions, he helped lead the team to win the East Senate title and compete in the City Championship- Charity Game. Following his senior year he made numerous honors to include All-Ohio, High School All-American, and played in the Ohio All Star game in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

College career

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

awarded Kaminski a scholarship to attend the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

University. Larry played all three varsity seasons as both a

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He was Captain of the freshman team. The Purdue teams coached by

Jack Mollenkopf Kenneth Webster "Jack" Mollenkopf (November 24, 1903 – December 4, 1975) was the head football coach at Purdue University from 1956 until 1969. Mollenkopf was also an assistant coach at Purdue from 1947 to 1955 under Stu Holcomb. Mollenkopf w ...

led by Hall of Famer

Bob Griese Robert Allen Griese ( ; born February 3, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He earned All-American hono ...

beat Notre Dame and was ranked in the top 10 his senior year. Larry earned first-team All Big Ten honors and honorable mention All American. After the season ended he was invited to play in the

Blue-Gray Game Livid is a medium bluish-gray color. This color name comes from the Latin color term ''lividus'', meaning "'a dull leaden-blue color'; it is also used to describe the color of contused flesh, leading to the English expression 'black and blue ...

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

where he started the game at center. He graduated in 1966 with a BS

Industrial Management In economics, industrial organization is a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure of (and, therefore, the boundaries between) firms and markets. Industrial organization adds real-world complications to the perf ...

. (Economics and Marketing).

Professional career

After graduation, Kaminski was preparing for a business career when the

asked to sign him as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. He jumped on the opportunity and went to the weight room to beef up to 235 pounds. He made the Broncos roster and started at center for 13 games. After the season, he was mentioned for Rookie of the Year honorable mention. Kaminski's career lasted from 1966 to 1973. He experienced being a member of the first winning year for the Denver franchise. He also played in the first two wins the AFL had over the venerable NFL when the Broncos beat the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

. He was voted to be a member of the All-AFL Team in 1967 and played in the All Star game in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. Being very active in the Denver community, he was nominated for NFL Man of the Year Honors in 1972 and 1973. Larry was a game captain several times in his tenure with the team. After a series of injuries, he decided to retire in 1974.

Life after football

After retirement, Larry Kaminski was awarded an

Anheuser Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

franchise in Ski Town USA, Steamboat Springs, CO. He and former

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

great,

Walt Barnes Walter Lee Barnes (January 26, 1918 – January 6, 1998), nicknamed Piggy, was an American professional football guard and actor who played in National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played in college at Louisiana State University, ...

worked the business for several years. Walt sold out and Larry recruited his two sons to learn the business. Kaminski became active in the Steamboat community. Kaminski was one of the original inductees of the Denver Bronco Alumni Association Board of Directors. He and Jerry Sturm and Gene Mingo were the only players from the original Denver AFL franchise. (see www.remembertheAFL.com) Kaminski was the founding member of the

Society to honor his former coach. Kaminski has recently been placed as a nominee for center on the Denver Bronco All 50 year Team. In 2019 the Denver Bronco fans elected him as one of the top 100 players on the Bronco franchise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminski, Larry 1945 births Living people American people of Polish descent Players of American football from Cleveland American football centers Purdue Boilermakers football players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Denver Broncos players American Football League All-Star players

Early life

College career

Professional career

Life after football

See also

References