This photo from August 1967 shows Boston Patriots and former Northern Michigan University football player Len St. Jean, right, blocking during a Patriots’ NFL game as quarterback Babe Parilli, left, hands off to running back Jim Nance. This was during a preseason game against the Baltimore Colts. (Tony Tomsic photo courtesy USA Today Network, Sports Illustrated)

Journal Sports Editor

MARQUETTE — A football legend at Northern Michigan University who went on to play in the National Football League has died at the age of 83.

Len St. Jean was a four-year letterwinner on the defensive line for the Wildcats before going on to play for the Boston Patriots — later the New England Patriots — of the AFL and NFL from 1964-73. He was mostly a guard on the offensive line for the Patriots, who he played for during his entire 10-year AFL and NFL career.

St. Jean, who died on May 26, the observed Memorial Day, was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

Not missing a single game in his 10-year pro career, his time with the Patriots spanned their original membership with the American Football League and subsequent joining the NFL when the rival leagues merged in the late 1960s. During his career, his team also changed its name from the Boston Patriots to the New England Patriots in 1971.

St. Jean was named an AFL All-Star selection in 1966, and he was later named to the Patriots’ All-1960s team.

“The New England Patriots are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former guard Len St. Jean,” the Patriots said in a posting on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). “We send our condolences to his family and all who knew him.”

St. Jean was born Oct. 27, 1941, in Newberry, playing fullback for his high school team before moving to defensive end at NMU, where he earned NAIA All-American honors in 1963, according to his biography posted online as a Wikipedia site dedicated to him.

He was actually selected in the 17th round of the 1964 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers, but opted instead to join the Patriots, who had selected him in the ninth round of the AFL draft that same year, Wikipedia said. He was the 68th overall pick in that AFL draft.

St. Jean started out as a defensive end in Boston, accumulating five sacks in his first two pro seasons, before switching exclusively to offense as a guard by the 1966 season.

In his decade-long pro career, he played in 140 games and was nicknamed “Boston Strong Boy” thanks to his feats of strength on and off the field, the Wikipedia site states.

It said that St. Jean’s family growing up was in the lumber business, and that St. Jean worked as a lumberjack in football offseasons during college and early in his pro career.

He reportedly would carry logs weighing up to 600 pounds, and also in the offseason, he joined the Patriots Basketball team that would barnstorm in New England.

St. Jean was also cited for a relentless work ethic that went well with his strength and agility, according to a recent Sports Illustrated website story observing his death that was written by Mike D’Abate and linked to by NMU’s athletics website, nmuwildcats.com.

“I had good quickness and good speed and good upper body strength, but the work ethic was probably my biggest asset,” St. Jean is quoted as saying in a 2006 interview with PatriotsDotCom and cited by D’Abate. “I was kind of a weirdo. Believe it or not, I loved practice. I loved training camp.

“I never missed a game in high school, college or the pros. It’s very unusual for that to happen.

“It’s an accomplishment, but it’s being very fortunate, too. It’s a combination of both, I guess. I always stayed in pretty good shape, so I think that might have had something to do with it.

“But I knew guys that were a lot bigger, a lot stronger than I was, and they’d end up missing two or three games here or there. I guess I was blessed.”

After his retirement from the NFL, St. Jean tried his hand for the two seasons of existence of the upstart World Football League with the New York Stars, which later moved and became the Charlotte Hornets. The league folded in 1975.

Following football, Wikipedia reports he worked in electronics sales with All-American Semiconductor, along with writing a book of poetry about football while still a player, and being an active member of the Patriots’ alumni club for three decades, including making appearances at Gillette Stadium on game days and special occasions.

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release, an SI.com story about St. Jean and the Wikipedia site about him. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.