Ross William Fichtner (October 26, 1938 – October 14, 2022) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

former

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

(1960 - 1967) and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

(1968). He played college football at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

where he succeeded

Len Dawson Leonard Ray Dawson (June 20, 1935 – August 24, 2022) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. Af ...

as the starting quarterback; he twice led the Boilermakers in passing (1957 & 1958) & total offense (1957 & 1958). He played in the

Blue-Gray Game Livid is a medium bluish-gray color. This color name comes from the Latin color term ''lividus'' meaning "'a dull leaden-blue color', and also used to describe the color of contused flesh, leading to the English expression 'black and blue'". ...

following the 1959 season. He is also the father of

Randy Fichtner Randy Fichtner (born November 7, 1963) is an American football coach. He spent 14 seasons as part of the Pittsburgh Steelers' coaching staff from 2007 to 2020. He most recently served as their offensive coordinator, a position he held for three ...

, who formerly served as the receivers coach, quarterbacks coach, and offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rossfichtnerautograph

References

1938 births 2022 deaths American football cornerbacks Cleveland Browns players New Orleans Saints players Purdue Boilermakers football players Sportspeople from McKeesport, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania {{defensiveback-1930s-stub