Gregory Joseph Lens (March 11, 1945 – November 18, 2009) was an American football defensive tackle.
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| No. 72 | |||||
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| Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | March 11, 1945 Marshall, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||
| Died: | November 18, 2009 (aged 64) San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 261 lb (118 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | Central Catholic (MN) | ||||
| College: | Trinity (TX) | ||||
| NFL draft: | 1970 / round: 4 / pick: 86 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||
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Lens was born in Marshall, Minnesota, in 1945 and attended Central Catholic High School in Marshall. He played college football at Trinity University in San Antonio and was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth round (86th overall pick) of the 1970 NFL draft. He appeared in 21 games for the Atlanta Falcons, 14 of them as a starter, during the 1970 and 1971 seasons.[1][2] He also played for the New York Stars and Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League during the 1974 and 1975 seasons.[3]
Lens was inducted into the Trinity University Hall of Fame in 2007.[2] He died in 2009.[1] He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.[4][5]
References
edit- ^ a b "Greg Lens". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ^ a b "Greg Lens". Trinity University. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ^ "Greg Lens". Pro Football Archives. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ^ "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller (June 20, 2023). "Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.