Walt Kiesling

Walt Kiesling

No. 16, 21, 18, 49, 25, 35
Position:	Guard
Personal information
Born:	(1903-05-27)May 27, 1903 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Died:	March 2, 1962(1962-03-02) (aged 58) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:	260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
High school:	Cretin (Saint Paul)
College:	St. Thomas (MN) (1923–1925)
Career history
As a player:
Duluth Eskimos (1926–1927) Pottsville Maroons (1928) Chicago Cardinals (1929–1933) Chicago Bears (1934) Green Bay Packers (1935–1936) Pittsburgh Pirates (1937–1938)
As a coach:
Pittsburgh Pirates (1937–1938) Line coach Pittsburgh Pirates / Steelers (1939–1942) Head coach Steagles (1943) Co-head coach Card-Pitt (1944) Co-head coach Green Bay Packers (1945–1948) Line coach Pittsburgh Steelers (1949–1953) Line coach Pittsburgh Steelers (1954–1956) Head coach Pittsburgh Steelers (1957–1961) Aide
Career highlights and awards
NFL champion (1936) 3× First-team All-Pro (1929, 1930, 1932) Second-team All-Pro (1931) NFL 1920s All-Decade Team Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 125 Games started: 81
Head coaching record
Career:	30–55–5 (.361)
Player stats at PFR
Coaching stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Walter Andrew Kiesling^[1] (May 27, 1903 – March 2, 1962) was an American football guard who spent 36 years as a player, coach, and aide with National Football League (NFL) teams. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and was named to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team in 1969.

A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Kiesling played college football at the University of St. Thomas where he was selected as an all-state player from 1923 to 1925. He then played 13 years as a guard (and his first season as a tackle) in the NFL with the Duluth Eskimos (1926–1927), Pottsville Maroons (1928), Chicago Cardinals (1929–1933), Chicago Bears (1934), Green Bay Packers (1935–1936), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1937–1938). He was a first-team All-Pro in 1929, 1930, and 1932, a second-team All-Pro in 1931, and played for the Packers 1936 NFL championship team.

Kiesling also spent 25 years as a coach or aide for NFL teams, including seven years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates / Steelers from 1939 to 1942 and 1954 to 1956. He led the Steelers to their first winning season in 1942. He also served as co-head coach of the wartime merger teams known as the Steagles in 1943 and Card-Pitt in 1944 and as line coach for the Pirates (1937–1938), Green Bay Packers (1945–1948), and Steelers (1949–1953). He retired from active coaching for health reasons in 1957 but remained an aide to the Steelers coaching staff from 1957 to 1961.