Meet The 15+ NFL Players & Coaches With Lebanese Roots
Lebanese-Americans are some of the most successful communities in the United States . They've gotten their fingers in many pies over the generations, including sports , which, of course, include American football.
Today, the community boasts several Hall of Famers in the contact sport, in addition to a number of professional players and coaches, some of whom had a notable impact on American football.
#1 Jimmy Jemail
Source: The Bowery Boys
Jimmy Jemail was regarded as the first Lebanese to ever play in America's National Football League (NFL). He played as a quarterback with the New York Brickley Giants in 1921. Jemail hailed from Byblos, Lebanon .
#2 John Elway
Source: Pro Football Hall of Fame
The current president of the Denver Broncos' football operations is a former quarterback who, throughout his 16-years of playing with the same team, became, statistically, the second most prolific passer in the history of the NFL.
A Lebanese-American , Elway is considered by some to be the greatest modern American football player, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
#3 Bill George
Source: Football Card Gallery
Credited as the first true middle linebacker in American football history, Bill George was a legendary player and Pro Football Hall of Famer (1974) who played with the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams.
George was a major contributor to the Bears' outstanding defensive team reputation in the 50s and 60s, and he was leading their defense team when they scored the NFL Championship in 1963.
#4 Doug Flutie
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Doug Flutie is an award-winning former quarterback who played with a variety of teams in the NFL, as well as in the United States Football League (USFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL), over the course of two decades.
Flutie, whose paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants , was inducted into several Halls of Fames throughout his career, including Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, to which he became the first non-Canadian inductee.
#5 Abe Gibron
Source: Alchetron/Spokeo
For 11 seasons, in the 40s and 50s, award-winner Abraham "Abe" Gibron played as a guard with several teams, mostly with the Cleveland Browns, ending his playing career with the Chicago Bears in 1959.
Gibron, the son of Lebanese immigrants, then switched to coaching in 1960 and went on to fill various coaching roles with a number of teams, including the Bears and the Miami Dolphins.
#6 Brian Habib
Source: Denver Broncos
Brian Habib played as an offensive lineman, for 11 seasons, with the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and Seattle Seahawks, and he won Super Bowl XXXII with the Broncos. He is currently a high school offensive line coach and a real estate agent.
#7 Robert Saleh
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The current head coach of the New York Jets has had a remarkable coaching career that started small with a 2002 Defensive Assistant role for Michigan State, which he secured with the help of his former college coach.
Saleh, who was born in 1979 in Dearborn, Michigan, to Lebanese parents, worked as a coach with the Houston Texans, the Seattle Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the San Francisco 49ers, before becoming the head coach of the Jets in January 2021 .
#8 Matt Kalil
Source: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports