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| Positions | Linebacker •Guard | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1942-09-19)September 19, 1942 Marshalltown, Iowa, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | September 23, 2008(2008-09-23) (aged 66) Lakeville, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 229 lb (104 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Wilton (Wilton, Iowa) | ||||||||||||
| College | Iowa | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1964: 4th round, 48th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| AFL draft | 1964: 8th round, 57th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Walter William Hilgenberg (September 19, 1942 – September 23, 2008) was a professionalAmerican footballlinebacker, he played 16 seasons in theNational Football League (NFL), four with theDetroit Lions and 12 with theMinnesota Vikings.
Born inMarshalltown, Iowa, Hilgenberg's family moved toWilton (then known as Wilton Junction) where he grew up and graduated from Wilton High School.[1] He playedcollege football in theBig Ten Conference at theUniversity of Iowa inIowa City, where he starred on both sides of the line of scrimmage, as a linebacker and as a guard. Two of his nephews,Jay andJoel would play on the offensive line at center in the NFL during the 1980s and 1990s.
Hilgenberg was selected in thefourth round of the1964 NFL draft (48th overall) by theLions. In1968, he was traded from the Lions to thePittsburgh Steelers, but was waived before ever playing a game in Pittsburgh.
Hilgenberg was picked up off waivers by theVikings and played for another dozen seasons, though1979.[2] During that time, he was one of 11 players to appear in all four of the Vikings'Super Bowls (IV,VIII,IX,XI).[3]
Hilgenberg's daughter Kristi wasMiss Minnesota Teen USA 1998.[3] His grandson Luke Lindahl was a linebacker for theIowa Hawkeyes.[4]
Hilgenberg died at age 66 in 2008, after battlingamyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease[2] for several years. After his death, brain dissection found advancedchronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which mimics many ALS symptoms. He was one of at least 345NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.[5][6]
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