:Byron Gentry

{{Short description|American football player (1913–1992)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| image =

| caption =

| position = Guard

| number = 18

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|10|20}}

| birth_place = Brawley, Arkansas, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|02|10|1913|10|20}}

| death_place = Paso Robles, California, U.S.

| undraftedyear =

| college = USC

| teams =

• Pittsburgh Pirates (1937–1939)

| highlights =

• First-team All-Pro (1938)
• 2× Pro Bowl (1938, 1939)
• 2× National champion (1931, 1932)

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 25

| statlabel2 = Games started

| statvalue2 = 24

| pfr = GentBy20

}}

Byron Burk Gentry (October 20, 1913{{spaced ndash}}February 10, 1992){{Find a Grave}} was an American professional football guard{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o5pDAwAAQBAJ|title = Uniform Numbers of the NFL: All-Time Rosters, Facts and Figures|last = Maxymuk|first = John|date = 2005-03-29|publisher = McFarland|isbn = 9781476603988|language = en}} in the National Football League (NFL). He played three seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates.{{Cite web|url = http://www.nfl.com/player/byrongentry/2514754/careerstats|title = Byron Gentry: Career Stats at NFL.com|website = www.nfl.com|access-date = 2016-03-08}}

Gentry played college football at the University of Southern California where he was also a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. At USC, he played on the 1931 and 1932 Rose Bowl championship teams.{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nXONAwAAQBAJ|title = The USC Trojans Football Encyclopedia|last = Shmelter|first = Richard J.|date = 2014-04-23|publisher = McFarland|isbn = 9781476615110|language = en}} He was a decorated soldier, rising to the rank of Capitan,{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=20szs8swPMwC|title = Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress|last = Congress|first = United States|date = 1962-01-01|publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office|language = en}} and serving as an intelligence officer in World War II. He later was a state and national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.{{Cite web|url = http://www.vfwca.org/about-us/our-history-1/past-state-commanders-department-of-ca.pdf|title = Past State Commanders Department of California|last =|first =|date = March 16, 2015|website = Veterans of Foreign Wars, DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA|publisher =|access-date = March 8, 2016}}{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6qg9AQAAMAAJ|title = United States Congressional Serial Set|date = 1993-01-01|publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office|language = en}} Gentry's post-football career was in the law and he was city attorney of Pasadena, California for sixteen years. He was also a published writer and poet.{{Cite book|url = https://archive.org/details/vfwillustratedhi0000bott|url-access = registration|title = The VFW: an illustrated history of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States|last = Bottoms|first = Bill|date = 1991-09-01|publisher = Woodbine House|isbn = 9780933149342|language = en}}