# Lou Tepe

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**Lou Tepe** (born June 18, 1930), was an American football player who played in the [National Football League](/source/National_Football_League) for the [Pittsburgh Steelers](/source/Pittsburgh_Steelers).

## Early life

Born in [North Bergen, New Jersey](/source/North_Bergen,_New_Jersey), Tepe grew up in [Englewood, New Jersey](/source/Englewood,_New_Jersey), where he played high school football at [Dwight Morrow High School](/source/Dwight_Morrow_High_School).[1] Tepe had received scholarship offers from four colleges, and chose [Duke University](/source/Duke_University) because it gave him the opportunity to get as far away as possible from where he grew up in [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey).[1] Tepe graduated from Duke in 1953 with a degree in engineering, and ultimately went into the field as a profession after completing his three-season NFL career.

## Professional career

He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers, having been drafted as a [center](/source/Center_(gridiron_football)) in the 30th round of the [1953 NFL draft](/source/1953_NFL_draft) as the 354th selection overall. Filling a need on the team, he shifted to [outside linebacker](/source/Outside_linebacker) and started at that position for two years.[1] Tepe had been signed by the [Toronto Argonauts](/source/Toronto_Argonauts) of the [Canadian Football League](/source/Canadian_Football_League) after the 1953 NFL season, but was released by the Argonauts in June 1954 as he was still under contract to Pittsburgh.[2] Tepe was the right linebacker for the Steelers in all 12 games of the 1954 season, playing on a team that was pioneering the use of the modern-standard [4–3 defense](/source/4%E2%80%933_defense) alignment with four down linemen and three linebackers.[3] He was one of the last players to make the Steelers team in the 1955 season, having made the final cut that saw [Johnny Unitas](/source/Johnny_Unitas) eliminated from the team.[1] While with the Steelers, Tepe wore jersey number 55 in 1955 and 61 during both the 1954 and 1955 seasons.[4]

## Personal life

Tepe moved with his family to Denver in 1967. From 1995 to 2000 he was an assistant football coach at [Littleton High School](/source/Littleton_High_School_(Colorado)) and in the fall of 2007, Tepe signed on to be an assistant coach for the football team of [John F. Kennedy High School](/source/John_F._Kennedy_High_School_(Denver,_Colorado)) in Denver. Tepe has worked to use his influence with the [National Football League](/source/National_Football_League) to convince each NFL team to donate $100,000 that would be used to provide counseling to high school students in each team's home city.[1]

Tepe's older brother, Harold, was killed in action serving during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) under General [George S. Patton](/source/George_S._Patton) in North Africa and was buried in [Tunisia](/source/Tunisia).[1]

## References

1. Moss, Irv. ["Education continues to stoke former Steeler"](http://www.denverpost.com/catchingupwith/ci_8039189), *[The Denver Post](/source/The_Denver_Post)*, January 22, 2008. Accessed January 1, 2015. "The experience took Tepe back to his roots in Englewood, N.J., and to a time when he needed the incentive of playing football to keep him in school.... Born: June 18, 1930, North Bergen, N.J. High school: Dwight Morrow, Englewood, N.J., 1946–48"

1. Staff. ["Tepe Returned to Steelers"](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/06/10/83338947.pdf), *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, June 10, 1954. Accessed January 1, 2015.

1. Troup, T.J. [*The Birth of Football's Modern 4–3 Defense: The Seven Seasons That Changed the NFL*](https://books.google.com/books?id=vX5jBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA66), p. 66. [Rowman & Littlefield](/source/Rowman_%26_Littlefield), 2014. ISBN 9781442237964.

1. ["Steelers All-Time Jersey Numbers"](http://prod.static.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/All_Time_Roster_Number_09_108698.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002145/http://prod.static.steelers.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/All_Time_Roster_Number_09_108698.pdf) 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, [Pittsburgh Steelers](/source/Pittsburgh_Steelers). Accessed January 1, 2015.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lou Tepe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tepe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Tepe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.