Paul Costa
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| Date of birth | December 7, 1941 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Port Chester, New York |
| Date of death | October 12, 2015 (aged 73) |
| Place of death | Grapevine, Texas |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Tight end |
| Height | 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) |
| College | Notre Dame |
| AFL draft |
1964 / Round: 14 / Pick 106 (By the Kansas City Chiefs) |
| NFL draft |
1964 / Round: 4 / Pick 55 (By the Green Bay Packers) |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1965–1969 | AFL Buffalo Bills |
| 1970–1972 | NFL Buffalo Bills |
| 1974 | WFL Birmingham Americans |
| 1975 | WFL Birmingham Vulcans |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| AFL All-Star |
1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 |
| Honors | 1965 AFL Champion |
| Career stats | |
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Sebastian Paul Costa (December 7, 1941 – October 12, 2015) was an American football tight end.] He played college football for the University of Notre Dame's Fighting Irish. The American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs drafted him in his junior year, 1964, and he was traded to the AFL's Buffalo Bills for the 1965 season. He won a starting job at tight end his rookie year with the Bills, and soon became an excellent tight end, being named an AFL All-Star in his first two seasons.
As a rookie, Costa averaged 19.1 yards per catch. For his career, he averaged 16.7 yards per catch. In his first year, in the 1965 AFL Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, he teamed with Ernie Warlick in one of the first uses of the "double tight end" formation installed by head coach Lou Saban. Costa caught two passes for 32 yards, Warlick caught three for 35 yards and a touchdown as the Bills defeated the Chargers for the second consecutive year, this time shutting them out 23 - 0, the first shutout in AFL Championship game history. In Costa's fifth year in pro football, he moved to offensive tackle and played that position for four years. After playing eight years for the Bills, he retired for one year, then came out of retirement to play for the Birmingham Americans of the World Football League in 1974 and Birmingham Vulcans in 1975.
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