Александр Войчехович: Легенда американского футбола

American football player (1915–1992)

Alexander Francis "Wojie" Wojciechowicz (/w//oʊ//dʒ//ᵻ/'/h//oʊ//w//ᵻ//t//s/; August 12, 1915 – July 13, 1992) was an American football player in the National Football League (NFL) from 1935 to 1950. He was a two way player who played at center on offense and at linebacker on defense. He has been inducted into both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame, was a founder and the first president of the NFL Alumni Association, and was the third player to receive the Order of the Leather Helmet. Wojciechowicz played college football for the Fordham Rams from 1935 to 1937 and was a member of the line that became known as the "Seven Blocks of Granite". He was selected as the consensus first team All American center in both 1936 and 1937. Wojciechowicz was selected by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 1938 NFL draft and played for the Lions from 1938 to 1946. He was selected as a first team All NFL player in 1939 and 1944. In 1946, he was released by the Lions and then sold to the Philadelphia Eagles, for whom he played from 1946 to 1950. He won two NFL championships with the Eagles, in 1948 and 1949.

Wojciechowicz was born in 1915 in South River, New Jersey. His father, Andrew Wojciechowicz (1890–1974), was a Polish immigrant and tailor. According to Wojciechowicz, he began playing organized football in 1929 as a freshman at South River High School — beginning as a center and never moving away from the position over the subsequent two decades. Wojciechowicz recalled that his real love as a boy was baseball, playing catcher and batting cleanup for his successful high school squad. However Wojciechowicz sought a college education and saw football as his natural path to academic possibilities and he consequently shifted his focus to the fall sport. He was torn between Villanova, Dartmouth, and Fordham, ultimately choosing the latter due to its location in New York City and Catholic orientation. Fordham coach Jim Crowley called Wojciechowicz "one of the great defensive centers" and noted that he "seldom made a bad pass from center."

Wojciechowicz was selected by the Detroit Lions in the first round, sixth overall pick, of the 1938 NFL draft. He signed with the Lions in July 1938. For nine years, Wojciechowicz was a fixture in the Lions' lineup, a 60 minute player who played at center on offense and linebacker on defense. He was selected as a first team All NFL player in 1939 and 1944 and had seven interceptions in 1944, a Lions single season record at the time. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, in its biography of Wojciechowicz, states: "On the field, he was all business, one of the last of the 'iron men' of football, a center on offense and a sure tackling linebacker with unusually good range, on defense." In October 1946, after the Lions lost their season opener, Detroit coach Gus Dorais released four linemen, including Wojciechowicz. Wojciechowicz announced at the time that he would return to his business in New Jersey and added, "This day had to come, and I can't say I'm disappointed that it happened now."

Two days after the Lions announced his release, the Eagles purchased the Lions' rights to Wojciechowicz for an undisclosed sum. He appeared in seven games for the Eagles, only one as a starter, during the 1946 season. In 1948, Wojciechowicz lost the starting center job to Vic Lindskog, but appeared in 10 games, mostly on defense, for the 1948 Eagles team that shut out the Cardinals in the 1948 NFL Championship Game. In 1949, he appeared in all 12 games, but only one as a starter, as Chuck Bednarik was the starting center for the 1949 Eagles team. That year, the Eagles won their second consecutive NFL championship, shutting out the Rams in the 1949 NFL Championship Game. He was considered past his prime when he joined the Eagles, but head coach Greasy Neale used him principally as a linebacker, and he responded with quality defensive play. Teammate Jack Hinkle called Wojciechowicz the "toughest guy" on the Eagles' championship teams and added, "He looked like a big, shaggy dog. A sad eyed St. Bernard. But he'd rip your head off."

Wojciechowicz was married to Katherine Mallen, and they had three sons and a daughter. For many years after retiring from the NFL, he lived in Wanamassa, New Jersey, and worked as a real estate appraiser and broker. Wojciechowicz was also one of the founders of the NFL Alumni Association, established to negotiate with the owners for the creation of a pension plan to benefit the game's early players, and was elected as its president in 1968. His son recalled: "He worked hard to establish the indigent players' fund and establish pensions." In 1968, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the time, Bill Daley wrote in The New York Times: "Fewer than a dozen men had the durability and continuing excellence to survive the rigors of smashing play for a longer period of time." In 1969, he was selected to the National Football League 1940s All Decade Team. In 1970, he was one of the five inaugural inductees into the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1971, he was inducted into the New Jersey All Sports Hall of Fame. In 1975, Wojciechowicz was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. In 1982, he became the third player, after Bronko Nagurski and Red Grange, to receive the prestigious NFL Alumni Order of the Leather Helmet. In 1987, he was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame.

Wojciechowicz died in 1992 at his home in Forked River, New Jersey at age 76.