Chuck Bednarik
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| No. 60 | |||
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| Position: | Linebacker / center | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth: | May 1, 1925 | ||
| Place of birth: | Bethlehem, Pennsylvania | ||
| Date of death: | March 21, 2015 (aged 89) | ||
| Place of death: | Richland, Pennsylvania | ||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||
| Weight: | 233 lb (106 kg) | ||
| Career information | |||
| High school: | Bethlehem (PA) Liberty | ||
| College: | Pennsylvania | ||
| NFL Draft: | 1949 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | ||
| Career history | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||
| Player stats at NFL.com |
| Chuck Bednarik | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |
 United States
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| Service/branch |
 U.S. Army Air Forces
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| Years of service | 1942–1946 |
| Rank |
 First Lieutenant
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| Unit | Eighth Air Force |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Charles Philip Bednarik (May 1, 1925 – March 21, 2015), nicknamed Concrete Charlie, was a professional American football player, known as one of the most devastating tacklers in the history of football and the last full-time two-way player in the National Football League. A Slovak American from the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, Bednarik played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1949 through 1962 and, upon retirement, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 (his first year of eligibility).
His parents emigrated in 1920 from Široké, a village in eastern Slovakia, for work, settling in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and working for Bethlehem Steel. Their son Charles was born in 1925. He attended school at SS. Cyril & Methodius in Bethlehem, which was a Slovak parochial school with Slovak the language of instruction.
Bednarik began playing football in Bethlehem. He played for Bethlehem's Liberty High School.
Following his graduation from high school, he entered the United States Army Air Forces and served as a B-24 waist-gunner with the Eighth Air Force. Bednarik flew on 30 combat missions over Germany, for which he was awarded the Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and four Battle Stars.
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