Jeffrey Glenn Siemon is a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and an inductee in the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

.

Jeff grew up in Bakersfield, CA and graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1968 where he played QB, LB, TE, and Center.

Stanford University

Jeff Siemon graduated from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 in 1972, where he starred as a linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

, playing on two Rose Bowl winning teams. At Stanford, he earned the Silver anniversary Dick Butkus award his senior year as the nation's top linebacker, and the Pop Warner Award as the top senior player on the West Coast. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 in 2006.

NFL

In 1972, Siemon was drafted in the first round by the Vikings, for whom he played until he retired after the 1982 season. During that time, he was the starting middle linebacker in 4 NFC championship games over the course of 5 years (1973 to 1977), winning 3: 1973-74 NFL playoffs, 1974-75 NFL playoffs, 1976-77 NFL playoffs, losing 1: 1977-78 NFL playoffs, and 3 Super Bowls (Super Bowl VIII

Super Bowl VIII

Super Bowl VIII was a professional American football game played on January 13, 1974 at Rice Stadium. in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 1973 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Miami Dolphins defeated the National Football...

, Super Bowl IX

Super Bowl IX

Super Bowl IX was an American football game played on January 12, 1975 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1974 regular season. It would be the last pro game at legendary Tulane Stadium...

, Super Bowl XI

Super Bowl XI

Super Bowl XI was a football game played on January 9, 1977 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1976 regular season...

), all losses. He was also a vital part of the Vikings' 1975 season of 12 wins and 2 losses, winning the NFC central division, 3rd in the NFL in least points allowed (180 points, 12.9 points per game), but the team lost to the Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

 in the first round of the 1975-76 NFL playoffs. During the prime years, he teamed up with excellent outside linebackers, such as Matt Blair

Matt Blair

Matt Blair was an outside linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for all 12 seasons of his career from 1974 to 1985.-Career:...

, Roy Winston

Roy Winston

Roy Charles Winston is a former professional American football player.Roy Winston graduated from Louisiana State University, where he starred as an offensive guard...

, and Wally Hilgenberg

Wally Hilgenberg

Walter Hilgenberg was a professional American football player.Hilgenberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa in 1942. His family moved to Wilton where he grew up and graduated from Wilton High School....

.

For his speed, quickness, and savvy, he was chosen to play in 4 Pro Bowls.

Post-NFL

After his NFL career, Jeff graduated from the Simon Greenleaf School of Law (M.A. in Christian Apologetics, 1984) Subsequently, Jeff began and continues his work today as the Minnesota Search Ministries Division Director.

Jeff and his wife, Dawn, have four grown children and live in Edina, Minnesota. Their daughter Kelley was a four-year starter for the Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...

 women's basketball team, concluding her career as part of the Fighting Irish's 2001 national championship squad.