Donald Nesbit Ettinger (November 20, 1921 – February 13, 1992) 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. He was born in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

. Nicknamed "Red Dog", Ettinger 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

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and later 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

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. He finished his career in

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

, where he was a four-time All-Star and won the

40th Grey Cup The 40th Grey Cup game was the Canadian Football Championship held on 29 November 1952. The Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 21–11 at Toronto's Varsity Stadium. Game highlights An audience of 27 391 watched as acting Cana ...

. Ettinger is credited for inventing the

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

References

1921 births 1992 deaths Sportspeople from Independence, Missouri Players of American football from Missouri American football linebackers Kansas Jayhawks football players University of Kansas alumni Saskatchewan Roughriders players Toronto Argonauts players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players New York Giants players Houston Oilers coaches Canadian football linebackers Players of Canadian football from Missouri {{linebacker-1920s-stub