Leon Gajecki

{{Short description|American football player (1917–2000)}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

|name=Leon Gajecki

|image=Leon Gajecki.jpg

|caption=Gajecki in 1940

|number=

|position=Center

|birth_date=December 10, 1917

|birth_place=Colver, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|death_date=November 2, 2000 (aged 82)

|death_place=Woodbury, New Jersey, U.S.

|height_ft=

|height_in=

|weight_lbs=

|high_school=

|college=Penn State

|draftyear=

|draftround=

|draftpick=

|pastteams=

|highlights=

• First-team All-American (1940)
• Second-team All-Eastern (1940)

}}

Leon J. Gajecki (December 10, 1917 – November 2, 2000) was an American football player.

Gajecki was born in 1917 in Colver, Pennsylvania, and attended Ebensburg High School.{{cite news|title=Leon Gajecki|publisher=Pro Football Archives|accessdate=June 22, 2022|url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/playerg/gaje00200.html}}

He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team from 1937 to 1940.{{cite news|title=A Great Star|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|author=Havey Boyle|date=November 23, 1940|page=12|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104254674/gajecki/|via=Newspapers.com}} He was selected by both the Newspaper Enterprise Association and Liberty magazine as a first-team center on the 1940 All-America college football team.{{cite book|title=ESPN College Football Encyclopedia|page=1181|publisher=ESPN Books|year=2005|isbn=1401337031}}{{cite news|author=Harry Grayson|author-link=Harry Grayson|title=NEA All-America: Gajecki At Center; Penn State Star Draws Most Votes For Pivot Spot|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=November 22, 1940|page=39|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104254815/gajecki/|via=Newspapers.com}}

Gajecki was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 142nd pick in the 1940 NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=1940 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1940/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} He played for the Jersey City Giants of the American Football League from 1946 to 1948.

After retiring from football, he settled in Pitman, New Jersey. He coached the football team at Glassboro State College in the mid-1960s. He also worked as a fuel technologist for more than 30 years for Exxon. He was inducted into the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame in 1971.{{cite news|title=Leon Gajecki|publisher=Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame|accessdate=February 3, 2015|url=http://ccshof.org/member/leon-gajecki/}} He died in 2000 at age 82 at the Greenbriar West Nursing Home in Woodbury, New Jersey.{{cite news|title=Leon J. Gajecki Sr., 82, a football star for Penn State|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|author=S. Joseph Hagenmayer|date=November 6, 2000|page=B4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28897493/leon-gajecki-obit/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite web|title=Former Nittany Lion Football All-American Leon Gajecki Dies|date=November 6, 2000|publisher=Penn State Athletics|url=http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/110600aac.html}}