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Ex-U Star Bob Westfall Dies At 61

Ex-U Star Bob Westfall Dies At 61 image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, October 24, 1980
Day
24
Month
October
Year
1980
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
Obituary
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Ex-U star Bob Westfall dies at age 61

 Bob Westfall, Ann Arbor High School's super athlete of the 1930s and later the University of Michigan’s 23rd All American football player, died Thursday night at his home in Adrian.

The 61-year-old star athlete underwent open-heart surgery a year ago.

Born in Detroit but reared in Ann Arbor, Westfall was a nine-letter man at old Ann Arbor High School, now the U-M’s Freize Building at E. Huron and S. State Streets. He lettered in football, baseball, basketball, and track in high school.

AT THE U-M, Westfall made the starting fullback position as a sophomore on one of Fritz Crisler’s most powerful Wolverines’ gridiron teams. He was an outstanding player in the Tom Harmon-Forest Evashevski era and in 1941 was elected captain of the U-M team. That same year he became the first Ann Arbor resident to be named a football All American since Johnny Maulbetsch won that honor in 1916. 

After service in the U. S. Air Corps in World War II, Westfall played fullback for the Detroit Lions and was named All-Pro at that position in 1945. He broke his arm during a pre-season practice with the Lions in 1946.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p. m. Monday at the Braun Brothers Funeral Home, 1501 W. Maumee St. in Adrian with the Rev. Jack Warner officiating. Burial will be in Lenawee Hills Memorial Park near Adrian. Friends may call at the funeral home from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.