Ronald Michael Kostelnik (January 14, 1940 - January 29, 1993) was an American professional

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player who was a

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in the

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(NFL) for eight seasons with the

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and one with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

. He played

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for the Cincinnati Bearcats. He won two

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s with the Packers and was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

Early years

Born in Colver, Pennsylvania, Kostelnik was the son of a

Polish American Polish Americans () are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of the U.S. population, ...

miner. He graduated from Central Cambria High School in 1957 and played

at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

Playing career

Kostelnik was selected in the second round of the 1961 NFL draft, 26th overall, by the Packers. For his first several seasons, he backed up veteran Dave Hanner, then became a starter in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. Alongside Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, and Lionel Aldridge, Kostelnik was the unheralded member of the Green Bay defensive line. Teammate Jerry Kramer said of him: "There aren't statistics for steady dependable guys who plug up the middle and allow other guys to excel. But that's what Ron did." In his eight seasons in Green Bay, the Packers won five NFL championships and the first two

s. He was traded in August 1969 to the

, then retired after the season.

After football

With a bachelor's and master's degree in education from Cincinnati, Kostelnik planned to be a school administrator. He began working for Mainline Industrial Distributors Inc. of Appleton in sales in the off-season in 1965, became president in 1970, and later was its chief executive officer.

Death

While returning to Wisconsin from a

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

vacation with his wife Peggy in 1993, Kostelnik suffered a fatal

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and lost control of his car on Interstate 75 in

Scott County, Kentucky Scott County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,155. Scott County is part of the Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county seat and ...

. He was age 53 and was survived by his wife, three daughters, and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostelnik, Ron 1940 births 1993 deaths American football defensive tackles Baltimore Colts players Cincinnati Bearcats football players Green Bay Packers players Road incident deaths in Kentucky Players of American football from Cambria County, Pennsylvania American people of Polish descent Players of American football from Pennsylvania Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame