John Teerlinck (1951-2020) *69

was an American professional football player and coach. He won three Super Bowls as a defensive line coach in the National Football League (NFL) with the Denver Broncos (1997, 1998) and Indianapolis Colts (2006). The annual award for NFL's best defensive line coach is named after Teerlinck. Twenty-three of the players he coached were selected to the Pro Bowl and three were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This success has led Teerlinck to be regarded as one of the NFL's greatest defensive line coaches. Teerlink played college football for the Western Illinois Leathernecks. He studied Fred Dryer and employed those moves in his play. "We used to get New York Giants games at Western and I'd watch No. 89, Fred Dryer, and copy his moves", Teerlinck said. A co-captain as a senior at Western Illinois University, he recorded 122 tackles and 14 sacks. He was named the team's defensive most valuable player and was voted a third-team Little All-American by the Associated Press.

Teerlink was selected by the San Diego Chargers as the 105th overall pick in the 1974 NFL Draft. He played 20 games with them from 1974 to 1975 before being forced to retire with a knee injury.