Rufus Copeland Deal (December 7, 1917 – March 14, 2005) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

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) for the former

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

(now the Washington Commanders). He 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 ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

and was selected in the third round of the 1942 NFL draft. An Alabama native, Copeland attended high school in

Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region. As of the 2020 census, its population was 227,036, ...

References

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2005/03/16/rufus-copeland-deal/27883027007/

External links

* * 1917 births 2005 deaths People from Moundville, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football running backs Auburn Tigers football players Washington Redskins players 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1910s-stub