Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Hilton" American football – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

John Hilton (March 12, 1942 – February 2, 2017) was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) who played from 1965 to 1973 for four teams, most notably the Pittsburgh Steelers (1965–1969).

Prep school and college

He played college football for the University of Richmond. He prepared for college by attending Fork Union Military Academy as a postgraduate in the 1959–1960 academic year where he played football and basketball.

NFL career

He was selected in the 6th Round (76th overall) of the 1964 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, but did not play for them before making his NFL debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1965. He next played with the Green Bay Packers (1970) and Minnesota Vikings (1971), before returning to the Lions to play his last two years in the NFL (1972–1973). He went on to finish his career with the Florida Blazers of the WFL in 1974 after which Hilton moved into coaching.

Later life and death

In 2008, John Hilton was announced as an inductee to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, joining fellow alumni from Fork Union, Sonny Randle and Rosie Thomas. He developed Alzheimer's disease and was in a period of declining health when he died after a fall on February 2, 2017. Hilton was 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.

References

1. White, Tom (July 27, 1982). "After untimely career moves, Hilton gets timely break". The Gettysburg Times. p. 9. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
2. "John Hilton, former Hermitage High, UR, NFL end, dies". February 2, 2017.
3. "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
4. 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.

External links

• NFL.com player page

This biographical article relating to an American football tight end born in the 1940s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1942 births
• 2017 deaths
• American football tight ends
• Fork Union Military Academy alumni
• Pittsburgh Steelers players
• Green Bay Packers players
• Minnesota Vikings players
• Detroit Lions players
• Players of American football from Albany, New York
• Florida Blazers players
• Richmond Spiders football players
• Green Bay Packers coaches
• Washington Redskins coaches
• Deaths from falls
• People with Alzheimer's disease
• American football tight end, pre-1950 birth stubs