linebacker, and he responded with quality defensive play. Teammate Jack Hinkle called Wojciechowicz the "toughest guy" on the Eagles' championship teams and added, "He looked like a big, shaggy dog. A sad-eyed St. Bernard. But he'd rip your head off." In his final NFL season, Wojciechowicz appeared in nine games, none as a starter, and saw only limited action. In December 1950, he announced that he was retiring as a player. Family, honors and later years Wojciechowicz was married to Katherine Mallen, and they had three sons and a daughter. For many years after retiring from the NFL, he lived in Wanamassa, New Jersey, and worked as a real estate appraiser and broker. Wojciechowicz was also one of the founders of the NFL Alumni Association, established to negotiate with the owners for the creation of a pension plan to benefit the game's early players, and was elected as its president in 1968. His son recalled: "He worked hard to establish the indigent players' fund and establish pensions." After retiring from football, Wojciechowicz received numerous honors including the following: In 1955, he was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1968, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the time, Bill Daley wrote in The New York Times: "Fewer than a dozen men had the durability and continuing excellence to survive the rigors of smashing play for a longer period of time." In 1969, he was selected to the National Football League 1940s All-Decade Team. In 1970, he was one of the five inaugural inductees into the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1971, he was inducted into the New Jersey All Sports Hall of Fame. In 1975, Wojciechowicz was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. In 1982, he became the third player, after Bronko Nagurski and Red Grange, to receive the prestigious NFL Alumni Order of the Leather Helmet. In 1987, he was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame. Wojciechowicz died in 1992 at his home in the Forked River section of Lacey Township, New Jersey, at age 76. References External links 1915 births 1992 deaths All-American college football players American football centers American football linebackers College Football Hall of Fame inductees Detroit Lions players Fordham Rams football players Fordham University alumni People from South River, New Jersey Philadelphia Eagles players Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees American