Stephen Pritko (December 21, 1920 – June 6, 2015) 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 and coach. He played professionally as an end for eight seasons 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) with the

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 ...

(1943),

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

(1944–1947),

Boston Yanks The Boston Yanks were a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Any games that conflicted with the Boston Red Sox baseball schedule in the Ameri ...

(1948),

New York Bulldogs The New York Yanks were an American football team that played in the National Football League under that name in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Season-by-season overview 1949 The team began in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, owned by Kate Smith's man ...

(1949), and

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

(1949–1950). Pritko served as the head football coach at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

(LACC) from 1955 to 1962.

Early life and education

Pritco was born December 21, 1920, in Northampton, Pennsylvania. He attended Northampton Area High School and then

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

NFL career

Pritco was selected by the Cleveland Rams in the 28th round the 1943 NFL draft. During his NFL career, he played for the

in 1943, the Cleveland and Los Angeles Rams from 1944 through 1947, the

in 1949, and the

from 1949 until 1950.

Coaching career

Pritko was hired in 1952 as the head football coach at Mount Carmel High School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1955, he took on the same role at

(LACC) and coached there through the 1962 season.

Death

Pritko died June 6, 2015, in

Gardena, California Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 61,027 at the 2020 census, up from 58,829 at the 2010 census. Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the ...

, at age 94.

Head coaching record

Junior college

References

1920 births 2015 deaths American football ends Boston Yanks players Cleveland Rams players Green Bay Packers players Los Angeles City Cubs football coaches Los Angeles Rams players New York Bulldogs players New York Giants players Villanova Wildcats football players High school football coaches in California Northampton Area High School alumni Sportspeople from Northampton County, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania {{widereceiver-1920s-stub