Jerry Sturm

Jerry Sturm Biography

Jerry Gordon Sturm (born December 31, 1936) is a former American college and professional football player. A center, he played college football at the University of Illinois, and played professionally in the American Football League for the Denver Broncos from 1961 through 1966, and later for several National Football League teams. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1964 and 1966.

He currently owns "The South" restaurant along with his wife Debbie Sturm in Englewood, Colorado. The restaurant has a selection of both Mexican & American food and has been open for 37 years now.

The former Houston Oilers center is a key figure in one of only two "game fixing" schemes the NFL has ever publicly acknowledged. Both plots were unsuccessful, and the league proudly boasts"?not necessarily naively"?that no game has ever been fixed. Sturm, now a restaurant owner in a suburb south of Denver, says he was approached by a former teammate, then no longer in the league, and offered $10,000 to try to throw the Dec. 5, 1971, game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Astrodome. It was Sturm's only season with Houston in a 12-year professional career, and the offer was substantial, considering Oilers owner Bud Adams paid him just $30,000 that year.

Jerry Sturm

Jerry Sturm Biography

See also