 Lazetich, circa 1947 | |||||||||
| No. 27 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Tackle Guard Linebacker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1921-08-27)August 27, 1921 Anaconda, Montana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | July 9, 1969(1969-07-09) (aged 47) Butte, Montana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 211 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Anaconda (MT) | ||||||||
| College: | Montana Michigan | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1945: 2nd round, 16th pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Milan "Sheriff" Lazetich (August 27, 1921 – July 9, 1969) was anAmerican football player in the 1940s. He playedcollege football for theUniversity of Montana andUniversity of Michigan. He was a first-teamAll-Big Tentackle and second-teamAll-American in 1944 for theMichigan Wolverines. He later played professional football for theCleveland / Los Angeles Rams. He played on the1945 NFL Championship team as arookie and was anAll-Proguard/linebacker for the Rams in 1948 and 1949.
Lazetich was born in 1921 inAnaconda, Montana. He was the son of Peter Lazetich, a pioneerSerbian rancher.[1] He grew up on his father's cattle ranch a few miles from Anaconda.[2] Lazetich attended Anaconda High School where he played football and was selected as an all-state tackle three straight years in 1938, 1939 and 1940.[1] He also playedbasketball and was a member of thetrack team.[1] Two of his brothers were also all-state football players at Anaconda High School.[2]
Lazetich played one year ofcollege football at theUniversity of Montana. In a spring game in April 1942, Lazetich returned akickoff 90 yards.[3] He joined theU.S. Navy duringWorld War II but received amedical discharge.[2] After being discharged from the Navy, Lazetich served as adeputy sheriff inDeer Lodge County, Montana.[2] He also worked as acowpuncher androdeo rider.[2]
He enrolled at theUniversity of Michigan where he played forFritz Crisler's Wolverines football team in 1944. Because of his prior work in law enforcement, Lazetich was given the nickname the "Sheriff" by his Michigan teammates, a nickname that stuck throughout his football career.[2] Lazetich was the star of the1944 Wolverines team that went 8–2 and finished the season ranked #8 in theAP Poll.[4] After being introduced toBig Ten football in 1944, Lazetich told reporters that "no end or back ever threw a block like a pony that has been running wild for a couple of years, especially when he feels the first touch of a saddle."[2] An NEA wire service story reported: "To him the Big Nine schedule can't be as tough as the battering bucking broncs handed out."[2]
In a pre-game story about the 1944Michigan – Ohio State game, theAssociated Press focused on Lazetich:
"The Michigan line is built around Milan Lazetich, a bigtackle from Anaconda, Mont., who once was sheriff in his home community. He's the No. 1 All-America candidate from the Wolverine camp, so the reports say, but he's only one of a stalwart line which held Illinois speedsters without a score."[5]
At the end of the 1944 season, Lazetich, in his sophomore season, was selected for theAssociated Press All Big Ten Team as a first-team tackle.[6] He was also picked as a second-team All-American by theAssociated Press,Football Writers Association of America,International News Service, andCentral Press Association.
In August 1945, the 23-year-old Michigan sophomore signed to play professional football for the Cleveland Rams.[7] With the Rams, Lazetich was converted from a tackle to a guard on offense and linebacker on defense.[8][9] Lazetich played in ten games at right guard for the Rams in 1945,[9] and he helped the Rams to win the NFL championship in his first year as a professional player.
In 1946, the Rams moved toLos Angeles, givingCalifornia and thePacific Coast its first major league sports team.[10] Lazetich played for the Rams in their first five seasons in Los Angeles.[9] When the Rams moved west, theLos Angeles Times ran an article introducing the city to the team's top players. In its feature on Lazetich, theTimes noted that, in "Sheriff" Lazetich, the Rams had one of the country's greatest law enforcement officers in its line.
"Lazetich is a copper from Anaconda ... Lazetich was a deputy sheriff of Deer Lodge County but he has made most of his arrests on the football field ... Lazetich played freshman football at the University of Montana after which he moved up to Big Ten football ... While Lazetich was an All-Big Ten tackle for the Wolverines, he is the regular right guard of the Rams."[11]
In the late 1940s, he was regarded as "one of the finest defensive right guards in pro football,"[12] and "50% of one of the best guard combinations in the National Football League."[8] TheLos Angeles Times gave Lazetich substantial credit for the success of the 1949 Rams.[12] He was selected as a first-team NFL All-Pro by theChicago-Herald American in 1948 and as a second-team NFL All-Pro byPro Football Illustrated. In 1949, he was selected as a first-team All-NFL/AAFC player by theInternational News Service, the Hearst newspapers wire service.[9]
Lazetich made a key play in the1950 NFL Championship Game. With the Rams ahead, 28–27, and only five minutes left to play in the game, theCleveland Browns were driving toward a score. After Browns quarterbackOtto Graham carried the ball on a quarterback draw, "linebacker Milan Lazetich hit him from behind, forcing a fumble recovered by the Rams at their own 22-yard line with just 3:16 to play."[13] Lazeitch also recovered the fumble and appeared to have sealed a victory for the Rams.[14] However, the Rams were unable to run out the clock, and the Browns kicked a field goal in the game's last minute to win, 30–28.
In addition to his ability as a player, Lazetich developed a reputation as "a wild character if there ever was one."[15] Decades later,Los Angeles Times sportswriterFrank Finch wrote that, although modern players were bigger and faster, he preferred the characters of the early NFL over the "faceless robots" of the modern game. He focused in particular on Lazetich: "A character's character was Ram middle guard Milan (Sheriff) Lazetich. He was a blithe spirit from Montana who'd played college football at Michigan before joining the Rams in '46 for a five-year stint. That he lasted that long with the club is remarkable in light of what he pulled atDan Reeves' Christmas party for the team at the end of the '46 season."[16] Reeves, the Rams' owner, invited the team to a party at his home; the centerpiece was a large cake in the design of a football field topped with a full-size football covered in chocolate. Teammate andPro Football Hall of FamerTom Fears later recalled the incident this way:
"During the course of predinner libations, someone asked Lazetich to demonstrate his punting prowess. I don't think he'd ever kicked a football before in his life. They dared him to boot the chocolate football, which was a big mistake because Laz wasn't the kind of guy to take a dare lightly. He ambled out to the kitchen, plucked the football off the top of the fancy cake, brought it out in the front room and drove his toe into it with beautiful form and a perfect follow through. Cake, frosting and everything else that was loose was well distributed over the ceiling, walls, windows and drapes. ... It also was the last party Reeves ever held in his house for the Rams."[15]
By 1948, health problems began to affect Lazetich. Prior to the 1948 season, theLos Angeles Times reported on an unspecified medical condition that may prevent him from playing for the team.[17] In November 1949, Lazetich was hospitalized inPennsylvania during the football season for treatment of astomach ulcer.[12][18] He was given severalblood transfusions, his condition was reported to be serious,[18] and he was unable to play for the rest of the month.[19]
In July 1951, Lazetich announced his retirement from football. At the time, theLos Angeles Times wrote: "Sorry to see the gruff rough Sheriff on the shelf. His departure leaves the Rams with only two members of the original cast of the 1945 world's championship team."[20]
After retiring from football, Lazetich returned to Montana, where he worked for theDeer Lodge County, Montana road department, as a court bailiff and as a surveyor with the Montana Highway Department.[1] He was a member of theSerbian Orthodox Church inButte, Montana, the Bokelian Brotherhood Lodge in Butte, and the Serbian Fraternity of Anaconda.[1]
Lazetich died in a hospital in Butte, Montana at age 47 in July 1969.[1][21] He was buried with military honors at the Mount Olivet Cemetery after a funeral in Butte's Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church.[22] Lazetich was survived by his wife, the former Mary Laughlin, and his daughter Milana.[1]
Lazetich's nephew,Pete Lazetich, helped theStanford football team to a victory over his uncle's alma mater, Michigan, in the1972 Rose Bowl. Pete Lazetich was part of Stanford's front four known as the "Thunder Chickens."[23] The younger Lazetich made 11 tackles in the 1972 Rose Bowl.[23]