John J. Hock was an 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...

 offensive lineman who played for the Chicago Cardinals from 1950 to 1952 and Los Angeles Rams from 1953 to 1957. He was named to the Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

one time. He was co-captain of a Santa Clara University (California) football squad that defeated Bear Bryant's highly ranked University of Kentucky team in the 1950 Orange Bowl. Hock also participated in the Olympic Trials for wrestling and was a veteran of the Korean War. After his professional football career ended with a severe knee injury, Hock went on to a successful career as an executive with a variety of freight forwarding and transportation companies. Hock died from lung cancer in December 2000. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was survived by his wife Bernadette "Micki", seven children and thirteen grandchildren.