Carl Ekern
No. 55 | |||||||||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Richland, Washington, U.S. | May 27, 1954||||||||
Died: | August 1, 1990 Kern County, California, U.S. | (aged 36)||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 223 lb (101 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Fremont (CA) | ||||||||
College: | San Jose St. | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1976 / round: 5 / pick: 128 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Carl Frederick Ekern (May 27, 1954 – August 1, 1990) was a National Football League (NFL) linebacker.[1]
Biography
[edit]Ekern was born in Richland, Washington. He attended Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California. Ekern was a graduate of San Jose State University and played pro football from 1976 to 1988 for the Los Angeles Rams. He appeared in the 1986 Rams promotional video, Let's Ram It,[2] under the name of "Carl E, General of the D."[3]
Ekern died of head injuries on August 1, 1990, when the Jeep he was driving ran off a highway near the Kern County town of Ridgecrest, California. At the time of the accident, Ekern was en route to Minden, Nevada, where he was a volunteer counselor and coach at the Rite of Passage, a camp for juvenile delinquents. The camp is located about 15 miles east of Lake Tahoe.[4][5]
Carl Ekern Spirit of The Game Award
[edit]The Carl Ekern award, honoring the former Rams linebacker, is the Los Angeles Rams award given to the player who best exemplifies sportsmanship, work ethic, and commitment to his teammates.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Ekern is a Norwegian name (Origin of The Name Ekern) Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Rams". Los Angeles Times. November 13, 1986. p. 129. Retrieved April 18, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ram IT (NFL Rams Football Team) Song". Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2018 – via YouTube.
- ^ Ex-Spartan, Rams Star Ekern Killed In Accident (San Jose Mercury News, August 2, 1990, page 1E)
- ^ Carl Ekern, Football Player, 36 (New York Times. August 4, 1990)
- ^ Rams Team Awards (The official site of the St. Louis Rams)[permanent dead link]
External links
[edit]- NFL profile
- Carl Ekern football statistics
- Rite of Passage the at-risk youth camp at which Ekern volunteered
- 1954 births
- 1990 deaths
- American football linebackers
- San Jose State Spartans football players
- Los Angeles Rams players
- National Conference Pro Bowl players
- Sportspeople from Sunnyvale, California
- Players of American football from Santa Clara County, California
- Sportspeople from Richland, Washington
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- American football linebacker, 1950s birth stubs