Pat Curran (born September 21, 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 ...

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. Curran played for 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)'s

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 ...

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

between 1969 and 1978. In 1969, Pat Summerall while announcing the syndicated NFL Films series This Week in Pro Football dubbed Curran "the meanest man in the NFL" due to Curran's penchant for "spearing" opponents; flying head first and using his helmet to brutally strike into their mid-sections, a type of blocking and tackling technique or maneuver that has since been outlawed in the league. Curran is a 1964 graduate of

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's Solomon Juneau High School and a 1968 graduate of Lakeland College near

Sheboygan, Wisconsin Sheboygan () is a city in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, which has a pop ...

. He was a two-time NAIA All-American while playing running back at Lakeland and he set a number of school records. Today, he holds Lakeland school records in career, single season and single game scoring and touchdowns, he is #3 in career rushing yards and #4 in single season rushing yards. He is a member of Lakeland's Athletic Hall of Fame. After retiring as a player, Curran served as a

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on Chargers radio broadcasts from 1978 to 1994. He was a manager for El Cajon Western Little League Baseball in 1987 and coached his son Vinny Curran. Curran was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2013. He is now a sales representative for Snap-On tools, working out of several automotive technical schools.

References

1945 births Living people American football tight ends Lakeland Muskies football players Los Angeles Rams players NFL announcers San Diego Chargers announcers San Diego Chargers players Players of American football from Milwaukee {{tightend-1940s-stub