Eli Strand

Eli S. Strand, Jr. (February 11, 1943 – January 2, 2008) was a professional American football player who played offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints.^[1] He was also a taxi squad member of the 1965 NFL Champion Green Bay Packers in the year immediately preceding the first Super Bowl.

In his later years, he was a frequent caller to sports radio station WFAN in New York City. He was known as "Eli from Westchester" and was known for invoking race into virtually every single phone call, often infuriating the hosts, which often resulted in the hosts banning him from calling into the station. By his own admission his penchant for looking for racism contributed to his early exit from the NFL. While with the Saints, he tried to organize several black players to take action against team management for better working conditions. He had limited clout as a marginal player on an expansion football team and found himself out of the league by the end of the year.

He died on January 2, 2008 at a Bronx hospital after a brief illness.

References

• https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/26/sports/sports-of-the-times-a-celebrity-caller-is-king-for-a-day-or-longer.html