Lyle Alzado

Lyle Martin Alzado (April 3, 1949 – May 14, 1992) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end of the National Football League (NFL), famous for his intense and intimidating style of play.

Alzado played for the Denver Broncos, the Cleveland Browns, and finally the Los Angeles Raiders with whom he won a championship in Super Bowl XVIII. He was a three-time All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowl selection during his career of 15 years.

Early life Alzado was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-Spanish father, Maurice, and a Jewish mother with a Russian family background, Martha Sokolow Alzado. He followed Judaism. When he was 10, the family moved to Cedarhurst, Long Island. His father, whom Alzado later described as "a drinker and street fighter," left the family during Alzado's sophomore year at Lawrence High School. He played high school football under coach Richard Mollo for three years. Though playing in relative obscurity in the NAIA, Alzado nonetheless gained notice by the NFL when Denver Broncos' coach and scout Stan Jones having been taken off the road by automobile trouble, decided to pass the time at nearby Montana Tech, one of Yankton's opponents. Montana Tech's coaches were showing him films of their star running back Don Heater, but Jones was impressed with the unknown defensive lineman Alzado squaring off against Montana Tech's offense and passed back a favorable report to his team.

Los Angeles Raiders After the Browns traded Alzado he committed to a heavy workout regimen. By the time he joined the Raiders the team had relocated to Los Angeles. After demonstrating dominant play throughout the strike-shortened 9-game season of 1982, he was voted the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. but injured a knee during training camp and was released. In 196 career games, he racked up 112 sacks, 24 forced fumbles, and nearly 1,000 tackles, while earning Pro Bowl honors in 1977 and 1978. After his retirement from playing, Alzado worked as a part-time color analyst for NBC's NFL coverage in 1988–89.

In 2018, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Alzado to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2018.

Style of play The man ESPN later labeled a "...violent, combative player known for his short temper", inspired the league rule against throwing a helmet after having done so to an opponent's helmet.

He was involved in "countless youth organizations", receiving the Byron "Whizzer" White award for community service in 1977. He appeared in Stop the Madness, a 1985 anti-drug music video sponsored by the Reagan administration.

Acting Alzado pursued an acting career in both movies and television, appearing mostly in youth-oriented comedy and adventure roles. His most notable film roles include the bully construction worker in Ernest Goes to Camp and the unstoppable killer in Destroyer. He appeared in Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All as a notorious bodyguard and rifleman. He played prison staff member Brawn in the 1990 film Club Fed and co-starred in the films Neon City and Oceans of Fire.

On television, Alzado appeared in a number of mid-1980s commercials for Sports Illustrated with "Jack", who tries to help him perform the commercial correctly. He played himself, wearing his Raiders uniform, in the Amazing Stories episode "Remote Control Man". He also played himself in a 1988 episode of Small Wonder; he made a guest appearance on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show in 1989. He starred in the sitcom Learning the Ropes as a high school teacher whose secret alter ego is a professional wrestler known as "the Masked Maniac," alongside numerous NWA Wrestling stars. Alzado appeared in the series premiere of the short-lived 1991 sitcom Good Sports with Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett, and in episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show and MacGyver.

Steroid use and death Alzado was one of the first major US sports figures to admit to using anabolic steroids. In the last year of his life, as he battled against the brain tumor which eventually caused his death, Alzado asserted that his steroid abuse directly led to his fatal illness. Alzado recounted his steroid abuse in an article in Sports Illustrated,

Alzado died on May 14, 1992, at age 43 from brain cancer. He was buried at River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

Hall of Fame Alzado was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

Exhibition boxing record