Paul Collins (September 28, 1922 – July 16, 2012) 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who 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).

College career

Collins attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

and was a member of the basketball, football, and track teams. As a senior, Collins led the Tigers with ten touchdowns scored and was named first team All-

Big Six Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associati ...

Professional career

Collins was drafted in the second round of the 1945 NFL draft by the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

. He played one season with the team, playing in three games with one start. and completing three of 17 passes for 43 yards with two interceptions. Collins lone start was a 10–0 loss on September 23, 1945, to 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 ...

Post football

After the end of his football career Collins worked as an account executive for Purina and Dow Chemical and was a real estate agent for Caldwell Banker. Collins died on July 16, 2012, in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Paul 1922 births 2012 deaths Players of American football from Missouri American football quarterbacks Missouri Tigers football players Chicago Cardinals players Missouri Tigers men's basketball players