| Position: | Defensive end |
| Number: | 82 |
| Birth Date: | 14 February 1941 |
| Birth Place: | Evergreen, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Shorewood, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 3 |
| Weight Lbs: | 254 |
| Afldraftyear: | 1963 |
| Afldraftround: | 6 |
| Afldraftpick: | 47 (By the Houston Oilers) |
| Draftyear: | 1963 |
| Draftround: | 4 |
| Draftpick: | 54 |
| College: | Utah State |
| Teams: | |
| Highlights: |
|
| Statlabel1: | Games played |
| Statvalue1: | 147 |
| Statlabel2: | Games started |
| Statvalue2: | 58 |
| Statlabel3: | Touchdowns |
| Statvalue3: | 1 |
Lionel Aldridge (February 14, 1941 – February 12, 1998) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers.[1] [2] [3] He played college football for the Utah State Aggies.
Born in Evergreen, Louisiana, Aldridge was raised by his sharecropper grandparents.[4] After his grandfather's death when Aldridge was 15, he was sent to live with a steelworker uncle in Northern California and played high school football at Pittsburg High School.[5] He earned an athletic scholarship and played college football at Utah State University in Logan, Utah[6] and was co-captain of the team and an All-Skyline Conference tackle.
Aldridge was selected in the fourth round of the 1963 NFL draft, 54th overall, by the two-time defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers. One of the few rookies to start for head coach Vince Lombardi, he enjoyed an 11-year NFL career.[7] As a Packer, he played a role in their unprecedented three straight NFL Championships (1965-66-67) and victories in Super Bowls I and II.[8] Traded to the San Diego Chargers, Aldridge played two seasons in San Diego before retiring from professional football in 1973.[1] He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1988.[9]
After retiring, Aldridge worked as sports analyst at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and for Packers radio and NBC until manifesting paranoid schizophrenia in the late 1970s.[10] [11] [2] Homeless for a time in part due to misdiagnosis,[8] [12] [13] he eventually reached a form of equilibrium. He became an advocate for the homeless and the mentally ill until his death in 1998.[14] [15] His advocacy work included serving as a board member for the Mental Health Association of Milwaukee and working as a speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.[16]