John Samuel "Chooch" Tsoutsouvas (October 8, 1917 – March 27, 1989) 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. Tsoutsouvas was born in 1917 at

Madera, California Madera (Spanish language, Spanish for "Lumber") is a city in and the county seat of Madera County, California, Madera County, located in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Founded in 1876 as a timber town at the terminus of a major logging f ...

. He attended

Santa Barbara High School Santa Barbara Senior High School, "Home of the Dons," is situated on a sprawling campus in Santa Barbara, California in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Among the oldest high schools in California and one of five high schools in the Di ...

and then

Ventura College Ventura College is a Public college, public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District. History ...

. He then played college football at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

in 1938 and 1939. He then played professional football 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) as a center and linebacker for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

. He appeared in three games for the Lions during the 1940 season. He also played for the Seattle Shipbuilders of the NWIFL in 1940, the Seattle Bombers of the American Football League in 1944, and the Tacoma Indians of the Pacific Coast Football League in 1946. Tsoutsouvas died in 1989 at

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsoutsouvas, Sam 1917 births 1989 deaths American football centers American football linebackers Oregon State Beavers football players Detroit Lions players Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Madera, California Santa Barbara High School alumni