Bill Lenkaitis

{{Short description|American football player (1946–2016)}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2019}}

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

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Bill Lenkaitis

| image =

| number = 51, 67

| position = Center, guard

| birth_date = {{birth date|1946|6|30}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|8|27|1946|6|30}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

| death_place = Canton, Massachusetts, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 4

| weight_lbs = 255

| high_school =

| college = Penn State

| afldraftyear = 1968

| afldraftround = 2

| afldraftpick = 43

| pastteams =

• San Diego Chargers (1968–{{NFL Year|1970}})
• New England Patriots ({{NFL Year|1971}}–{{NFL Year|1981}})

| highlights =

• First-team All-East (1967)

| pfr = L/LenkBi20

}}

William Edward Lenkaitis (June 30, 1946 – August 27, 2016) was an American professional football player who was a center and guard for 14 seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Lenkaitis played in the AFL with San Diego Chargers in 1968 and 1969, and spent a season with them in the NFL in 1970. He then played 11 seasons (1971–1981) with the NFL's New England Patriots. He was a member of the New England Patriots 1970s All-Decade Team.

Lenkaitis attended Penn State University, and subsequently earned his dental degree in the offseason from the University of Tennessee. He was the Patriots' dentist for many years, both when he was playing and beyond. At the time he was the only practicing dentist in the league.{{cite web|title=Official Biography|url=http://www.patriots.com/alumni/index.cfm?ac=alumnibiosdetail&bio=12127|publisher=The New England Patriots Online|accessdate=30 November 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806092942/http://www.patriots.com/alumni/index.cfm?ac=alumnibiosdetail&bio=12127|archivedate=6 August 2007}}

Lenkaitis died of brain cancer in 2016 and later diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy after death.{{Cite news |last=Hohler |first=Bob |date=2017-10-28 |title=Big men with broken minds: The largely forgotten faces of the Patriots franchise |language=en-US |work=Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2017/10/29/cte/uDS1dj1CVuUzTDAsjosJ7J/story.html |access-date=2021-06-20}} He is one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.{{cite news |title=The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) |website=Concussion Legacy Foundation |url=https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts |access-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702123543/https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |author=Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/sports/football/cte-study-concussions-brain-tackle.html |title=Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease. |work= The New York Times |date=June 20, 2023 |access-date=July 2, 2023 }}