A good number of wrestlers made the transition to the mat from the gridiron, most famously former Kansas City Chiefs star Ernie Ladd. A close second would be Massachusetts-born Angelo Mosca.
Drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles out of Notre Dame in 1959, Mosca opted for the Canadian Football League, where he won 5 Grey Cups out of 9 appearances, four of them the the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a defensive lineman.
While with the CFL, Mosca began wrestling during the offseason (The CFL starts its season before the NFL), and eventually came back to the US to compete in the then-World Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance before retiring from competition for good in 1986. His WWF run ended with a brief stint as a color analyst for the company's syndicated programming, partnered with Jack Reynolds, a partnership that didn't last, based mostly in Canada.
It was reported earlier today that Mosca had passed away at 84 after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer's disease. Following is a WWF TV match from 1981, as Mosca, managed by Mount Vernon native Lou Albano, takes on Jose Estrada:
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