Paul Leroy Larson (March 19, 1932 – October 29, 2022) 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 native of

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its population was 72,740 at the 2020 United States census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by pr ...

, Larson 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 ...

at the

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 ...

position for the

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley, in college football as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. They were previously a member of the Pac-12 Confer ...

team. He was selected by the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

as the first-team quarterback on its 1954 College Football All-America Team. He was selected 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 ...

in the eighth round (86th overall pick) of the 1954 NFL draft and played for the Cardinals in five games during the 1957 NFL season. He later appeared in one game for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

in 1960. Larson died in Turlock on October 29, 2022, at the age of 90.

References

1932 births 2022 deaths American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football players Chicago Cardinals players Oakland Raiders players Sportspeople from Turlock, California Players of American football from Stanislaus County, California American Football League players Turlock High School alumni {{Quarterback-1930s-stub

See also

References