Dave Butz Biography. David Butz was an American professional football player who played defensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Redskins during the course of a 16-year career from 1973 to 1988. He passed away on November 4, 2022. He represented the Purdue Boilermakers in collegiate football.
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Dave Butz Early Life
Butz was born in 1950 in Alabama. He was a two-time high school All-American while playing football for Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. [1] He was the Illinois High School discus champion and a basketball player as well, setting a state record.
Dave Butz College football
Butz participated in collegiate football at Purdue University and was a 1972 Lombardi Award finalist. He participated in the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl, where he was voted the Defensive MVP, and was a member of the Big Ten’s first team.
In the future, Butz was selected for Purdue’s All-Time Football Team[1], and in 2014, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Dave Butz Professional football
Butz was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft, and he would play for them for two seasons. For the right to Butz, Redskins coach George Allen traded two first-round draft picks and a second-round pick to the Cardinals. Due to an error in the contract he signed as a rookie in 1973, Butz was given free agency in 1975. Allen signed him right away, but the NFL mandated that the Redskins give the Cardinals two first-round picks (1977 and 1978) and a second-round pick in exchange (1979).
Dave Butz Later life and death
Butz was a National Rifle Association board member in the early 2000s.
In Fairfax, Virginia, Butz resided. He was Earl Butz’s nephew; Butz’s uncle held the Cabinet position during Butz’s first term in Washington and served as the nation’s agriculture secretary under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. On November 4, 2022, Butz passed away at the age of 72.
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