Wayne DeSutter

Wayne DeSutter
No. 71
Position:Tackle
Personal information
Born:(1944-05-17)May 17, 1944
Geneseo, Illinois, U.S.
Died:June 8, 2025(2025-06-08) (aged 81)
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school:Atkinson (Atkinson, Illinois)
College:Illinois, Western Illinois
NFL draft:1966: 6th round, 87th pick
AFL draft:1966: 12th round, 109th pick
Career history
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Wayne DeSutter (May 17, 1944 – June 8, 2025) was an American professional football player who was a tackle for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL) in 1966.[1][2]

Biography

DeSutter played college football for the Western Illinois Leathernecks. He was inducted into the WIU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.[3]

DeSutter was selected in the sixth round of the 1966 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, but chose to play for the Bills, who picked him in the 12th round of the AFL draft.

Following his one season in the AFL, DeSutter served in the Illinois National Guard. Starting in 1970, he began a 34-year career in education as a teacher, athletic director and football coach.[4] He was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993.[5]

DeSutter was the coach at Plainfield High School in 1990 and had just called afternoon practice when five minutes later with the players huddled inside an F5 tornado ripped through the high school on August 28, 1990.[6][7] DeSutter was inducted into the inaugural class of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

DeSutter died in Columbus, Ohio on June 8, 2025, at the age of 81.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Wayne DeSutter Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  2. ^ "Wayne DeSutter, T". Nfl.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  3. ^ "Hall of Fame". Western Illinois University Athletics. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Wayne DeSutter Obituary (2025) - Hamilton, OH - Vandemore Funeral Home - Geneseo". Legacy.com. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  5. ^ "All Hall of Famers". Illinois High School Football Coaches Association. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  6. ^ "'Get out of here! Now!' Remembering the Plainfield tornado". Chicago Sun-Times. August 27, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  7. ^ Merrifield, Robert; Koziol, Ronald (August 29, 1990). "20 ARE KILLED IN ILLINOIS AS TORNADOES RAKE TOWNS". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 12, 2025.