Bill Svoboda
Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame
Football, 1947-59
Tulane University/NFL
Inducted: 1987
Bill Svoboda was a star linebacker for the Tulane football team in the late 1940s. He served as co-captain of Tulane’s Southeastern Conference co-championship team in 1949.
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After his standout Green Wave career at Tulane, Svoboda was selected in the third round (29th overall) of the 1950 NFL Draft. He would play linebacker in the NFL for nine seasons with the Chicago Cardinals (1950-53) and the New York Giants (1954-58).
A Pro Bowl selection in 1953, he was the defensive captain for the Giants when they won the NFL championship in 1956 and the divisional championship in 1958.
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For his career, he registered nine career interceptions and recovered 12 fumbles while playing in 102 games with 95 games started.
Svoboda was born July 12, 1928, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He died June 20, 1980, at the age of 51 after suffering a heart attack while jogging at his home in Houma. He was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 1978.
