A member of the Cleveland Browns‘ 1964 championship team, who used to support himself in a rather interesting way, died recently.
Per Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun, Roger Shoals died on June 30 at the Lankenau Medical Center in Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania, due to pneumonia at the age of 86.
“He might not have made the Pro Bowl in his career, but as a father, he’s in the Hall of Fame,” Roger’s son Mike Shoals said. “I mean, he’s the best.”
A former Cleveland Browns player died
Roger played college football for Maryland, earning second-team All-ACC honors in 1961. The six-foot-four, 260-pound offensive tackle was selected by the Browns in the 34th round of the 1962 AFL draft. He went in the 16th round of the 1961 draft to the Dallas Texans.
Shoals chose to play for the Browns in 1963-1964, earning a championship with the Browns in 1964. He played for the Detroit Lions from 1965-1970 before finishing his playing career with the Denver Broncos in 1971.
Roger Shoals was a paper salesman
Because he didn’t make a lot of money playing professional football, Shoals made a living in paper sales during his time in the leagues/
“At a time when NFL contracts were not as lucrative as they are today, Mr. Shoals worked full time as a paper salesman,” Lee wrote. “The company he worked for made arrangements with the Lions for Mr. Shoals to skip flights from road games to Detroit in favor of flights to New York City so that he could spend Mondays at the office before returning that night to make it to Lions practice the next day.
“Mike Shoals said his father also used his NFL ties to advance his career in sales.”
Shoals continued his career in sales following his playing days. He also owned part of a Cadillac-Buick-GMC dealership in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.
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