:Chet Bulger

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1917–2009)}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Chet Bulger

| number = 70, 73, 45, 67, 11, 71

| position = Tackle

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|9|18}}

| birth_place = Rumford, Maine, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|2|18|1917|9|18}}

| death_place = Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 3

| weight_lb = 260

| high_school = Stephens (Rumford, Maine)

| college = Auburn

| undraftedyear = 1941

| pastteams =

Chicago Cardinals ({{NFL Year|1942|1943}})
Card-Pitt ({{NFL Year|1944}})
Chicago Cardinals ({{NFL Year|1945|1949}})
Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1950}})

| pastcoaching =

De La Salle Institute (IL) (1951–1954)
(Line)
Saint Mary's (MN) (1954)
(Head coach)

| highlights =

NFL champion ({{NFL Year|1947}})

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 86

| statlabel2 = Games started

| statvalue2 = 59

| statlabel3 = Fumble recoveries

| statvalue3 = 6

| pfr = BulgCh20

}}

Chester Noyes Bulger (September 18, 1917 – February 18, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Cardinals. Bulger was born in Rumford, Maine, and after graduating from Stephen's High School, he attended Auburn University on a track and field scholarship, where he then walked onto the football team. Bulger played for the Chicago Cardinals from 1942 to 1949, where he was part of the line that helped lead the Cardinals to the NFL Championship in 1947.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022151322/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1462938.html HighBeam] After retiring from football in 1951, Bulger remained in Chicago and became a teacher, coach, and eventual athletic director at De La Salle Institute. He remained there until 1982 and was subsequently an integral member of the school's development office into the early 1990s. In 2007, De La Salle honored Bulger's contributions to the school by renaming the main athletic field in his honor.

Bulger served as the head football coach at Saint Mary's College—now known as Saint Mary's University of Minnesota—Winona, Minnesota for one season, in 1954.{{cite news |author= |title=St. Mary's Fills Vacancies on Athletic Staff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64955687/the-winona-daily-news/ |newspaper=Winona Daily News |location=Winona, Minnesota |date=April 3, 1954 |page=13 |access-date=December 9, 2020 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }} Saint Mary's football program was disbanded after the season.{{cite news |author= |title=Football, Hockey Had Heyday at Terrace Heights |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64953966/the-winona-daily-news/ |newspaper=Winona Daily News |location=Winona, Minnesota |date=November 19, 1955 |page=K12 |access-date=December 9, 2020 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}

Bulger died of natural causes on February 18, 2009, at his home in Fairfax, Virginia. He was 91.{{cite news |author= |title=Ex-Cardinals lineman Chet Bulger dies |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3919615 |publisher=ESPN |agency=Associated Press |date=February 19, 2009 |access-date=December 9, 2020 }}