Garland Boyette
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| Positions | Linebacker • Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | March 22, 1940 Rayville, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died | April 19, 2022 (aged 82) Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Wallace (Orange, Texas) | ||||||||
| College | Grambling St. | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1962: undrafted | ||||||||
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Garland Dean Boyette (March 22, 1940 – April 19, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played for the Houston Oilers and St. Louis Cardinals from 1962 to 1972. He also played for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), as well as the Houston Texans/Shreveport Steamer of the World Football League (WFL). In 1967, he was the regular starting middle linebacker for the Oilers and joined Willie Lanier of the Kansas City Chiefs as the first African Americans to start at that position in American professional football. He narrowly missed qualifying for the decathlon as part of the 1960 United States Olympic Team.