NFL Hall of Famer Weinmeister Dies

SEATTLE (AP) â€” Arnie Weinmeister, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman who starred in New York during the late 1940s and early '50s, is dead of cancer at 77. <br><br>Weinmeister, who later became an

Wednesday, July 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SEATTLE (AP) â€” Arnie Weinmeister, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman who starred in New York during the late 1940s and early '50s, is dead of cancer at 77.

Weinmeister, who later became an official of the Teamsters Union, died last week. Following his wishes, no funeral or memorial service was held. Word of his death came Monday in the back pages of Seattle's daily newspapers.

Weinmeister was born in Saskatchewan and moved to the Pacific Northwest as a child, first to Portland, Ore., then to Seattle when his father found work as a carpenter.

After serving three years with the U.S. Army in Europe in World War II, he attended the University of Washington.

After college, Weinmeister joined the New York Yankees of the old All-America Football Conference in 1948-49, then moved to the New York Giants of the NFL. He finished his short but impressive career as a player-coach with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1955.

Weinmeister, who made $12,000 a year playing football and supplemented his income selling locally brewed Rainier beer, was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

In 1956, Weinmeister became a national organizer for the Teamsters, and moved back to Seattle in 1961 as a business agent for the local Teamsters. He rose through the ranks in the 1960s and 1970s, eventually becoming a union leader for the West Coast.

Weinmeister's first wife, Shirley, died in a car accident in 1958. Weinmeister is survived by his wife, Joey, along with four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.