Wayne DeSutter

Wayne DeSutter (May 17, 1944 – June 8, 2025) was an American professional football player who was a tackle for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL) in 1966.^[1][2]

Wayne DeSutter

No. 71
Position:	Tackle
Personal information
Born:	(1944-05-17)May 17, 1944 Geneseo, Illinois, U.S.
Died:	June 8, 2025(2025-06-08) (aged 81) Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:	255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school:	Atkinson (Atkinson, Illinois)
College:	Illinois, Western Illinois
NFL draft:	1966: 6th round, 87th pick
AFL draft:	1966: 12th round, 109th pick
Career history
Buffalo Bills (1966)
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Biography

DeSutter played college football for the Western Illinois Leathernecks. He was inducted into the WIU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.^[3]

DeSutter was selected in the sixth round of the 1966 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, but chose to play for the Bills, who picked him in the 12th round of the AFL draft.

Following his one season in the AFL, DeSutter served in the Illinois National Guard. Starting in 1970, he began a 34-year career in education as a teacher, athletic director and football coach.^[4] He was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993.^[5]

DeSutter was the coach at Plainfield High School in 1990 and had just called afternoon practice when five minutes later with the players huddled inside an F5 tornado ripped through the high school on August 28, 1990.^[6][7] DeSutter was inducted into the inaugural class of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

DeSutter died in Columbus, Ohio on June 8, 2025, at the age of 81.^[4]