Merlin Olsen
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| No. 74 | |||||||
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| Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Date of birth: | September 15, 1940 | ||||||
| Place of birth: | Logan, Utah | ||||||
| Date of death: | March 11, 2010 (aged 69) | ||||||
| Place of death: | Duarte, California | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 270 lb (122 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| College: | Utah State | ||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1962 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3 | ||||||
| AFL draft: | 1962 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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| Games: | 208 |
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| Interceptions: | 1 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Merlin Jay Olsen (September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010) was an American football player, announcer, and actor. He played his entire 15-year professional football career in National Football League (NFL) as a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams. He was selected to the Pro Bowl a record 14 straight times, missing selection only in the last year of his career. This record of 14 seasons selected to play in the Pro Bowl, consecutive or otherwise, is current and shared with former offensive lineman Bruce Matthews, former tight end Tony Gonzalez, and former quarterback Peyton Manning. A recipient of the 1961 Outland Trophy as the best lineman in college football, Olsen is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. As an actor, he portrayed farmer Jonathan Garvey on Little House on the Prairie. After leaving that series, he starred in his own NBC drama, Father Murphy.
Born to Lynn Jay and Merle Barrus Olsen in Logan, Utah, the second of nine siblings and the first-born son, Olsen had three brothers and five sisters: Colleen, Clark, Lorraine, Gwen, Phil, Winona, Ramona, and Orrin.
Olsen attended Utah State University where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and was a three-year letterman in football as a defensive tackle. He graduated from the College of Business and Social Sciences at USU with a bachelor's degree in Finance in 1962 and a master's degree in Economics in 1971. He later received an honorary doctorate degree in business from the Huntsman School.
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