Gene Brito

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Gene Brito
refer to caption
Brito on a 1955 Bowman football card
No. 80
Position: Defensive end
End
Personal information
Date of birth: (1925-11-23)November 23, 1925
Place of birth: Huntington Park, California
Date of death: Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Place of death: Duarte, California
Career information
College: Loyola Marymount
NFL draft: 1951 / Round: 17 / Pick: 196
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Fumble recoveries: 11
Receptions: 47
Touchdowns: 2
Player stats at NFL.com

Gene Herman Brito (November 23, 1925 – June 8, 1965) was an American football Defensive end in the National Football League who played nine seasons for the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Rams from 1951 to 1960.

Early career

Brito, born to a Spanish-American father and Mexican-American mother, grew up in Lincoln Heights, a then mostly Italian American neighborhood, located in Los Angeles, California. His father was a boxer, and had two younger sisters.[1] Brito attended Lincoln High School where he was a standout athlete.[1]

College career

Brito graduated from Loyola Marymount University (then Loyola University) as a multi-sport athlete, starring in football, baseball, basketball, and track.

Professional career

Brito began his career as an offensive end, catching 45 passes in his first two seasons before being moved to defensive end in 1953. He was named the NFL Player of the Year by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club after the 1955 season. Brito played in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders in 1954 where he was an All-conference selection in the CFL's Western Conference. In the NFL he was a five-time Pro Bowler in 1953 and from 1955 to 1958. He was selected as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins, a list compiled by the Redskins in 2002 to commemorate the 70-year anniversary of the team. He is one of four defensive ends on the team, along with Dexter Manley, Ron McDole and Charles Mann.

Personal

Brito was a staff sergeant in the U. S. Army and an Army paratrooper with U.S. forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Brito was elected posthumously to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.[2] He hosted "The Gene Brito Show" which aired prior to Redskins games in the 1950s making him one of the first NFL athletes to host a show and making him the most popular Redskins of his era.[3] He was then-President John F. Kennedy's favorite player. Brito died on June 8, 1965 of ALS at the age of 39.[4]

References

External links