George Kunz

George James Kunz (born July 5, 1947) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1980. He played college football with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, earning consensus All-American honors in 1968.

Kunz was selected in the first round of the 1969 NFL/AFL draft with the second overall pick. He was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection in the NFL, playing with the Atlanta Falcons (1969–1974) and Baltimore Colts (1975–1980).

In his later years Kunz worked as an attorney practicing in Las Vegas, Nevada.

College career

Tackle at the University of Notre Dame, he was 1968 consensus First-team All-American and a member of 1966 Notre Dame national championship team. He was a two-year starter at right offensive tackle and co-captain of Irish team in 1968. In addition he was National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete honoree in 1968, being voted Academic All-American in 1968 and winner of NCAA post-graduate scholarship.

Kunz was regarded as the best offensive lineman of his draft class in 1969. He was a bulwark of the Atlanta offense, playing right tackle, a key part of a line that limited Falcons opponents to just 31 sacks in 1971. Kunz managed to return in 1980, seeing action in 9 games with 6 starts,

Life after football

In 2007, at the urging of his wife Mary Sue, the 59-year old Kunz went back to school, enrolling in the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kunz, a former Academic All-American at Notre Dame, found the transition difficult but achievable, later telling a journalist: "My first day in class I had to ask another student how to turn on my computer — I was the oldest one there. Once I got back into the flow of it, it got a little easier but football killed a lot of brain cells. The bottom line is, I wasn't at the top of my class, but I wasn't at the bottom, either."

Kunz graduated in 2010 and subsequently passed the Nevada state bar exam. He opened a legal practice in Las Vegas dealing with matters of family law, adoption, and personal injury.