Wayne Rasmussen (born June 7, 1942) is a former

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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

who played 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 ...

. After his football career, he spent many years as an executive for Citibank at their Sioux Falls, South Dakota location, and is now retired in the Sioux Falls area. Rasmussen graduated from Howard High School, located in

Howard, South Dakota Howard is a city in Miner County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 848 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and most populous city in Miner County. History The city of Howard was established in 1881, shortly after the Sou ...

. Rasmussen played football, basketball and baseball at

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the sec ...

. As point guard, he led South Dakota State to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1963 and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Also, as a football player in college, he played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

as well as defensive back. He played as a defensive back for the Detroit Lions from 1964 to 1972. He is an inductee of the

South Dakota Hall of Fame The South Dakota Hall of Fame is an American award for excellence among South Dakotans. Established in 1974, the South Dakota State Legislature named the organization the state's official hall of fame in 1996. The hall is a museum detailing "acts ...

and the

South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame The South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame honoring individuals associated with the U.S. state of South Dakota. It is "dedicated to the preservation, documentation and display of South Dakota's sports history." As of 2017, the ha ...

References

External links

Rasmussen's South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame page
1942 births Living people American football safeties American football wide receivers Basketball players from Chicago Detroit Lions players Point guards South Dakota State Jackrabbits football players South Dakota State Jackrabbits men's basketball players Players of American football from Chicago Players of American football from Sioux Falls, South Dakota American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen {{defensiveback-1940s-stub