Steve Zabel, a pioneer or two-way play in college football, is dead at the age of 78.
No cause of death was given for his Wednesday passing.
Zabel, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, played tight end at Oklahoma for three years under Chuck Fairbanks, Second-Team All-American honors in 1968, a junior season that saw him become a force on defense, as well.
“Chuck Fairbanks called me in his office and said, ‘Steve, we’ve proven we can’t outscore people. We want you to play defensive end as well as tight end and see if we can’t win some games,’” Zabel recalled in a 2021 interview with the Eagles. “For me, it was a great transition. I played both ways and punted, and we won our last six games in a row and won the Big Eight Championship.”
After reverting back to offense for his senior season, Zabel entered the 1970 NFL Draft, where he was selected sixth overall by the Eagles.
As a rookie, he made eight starts for Philadelphia, catching on touchdown in 14 games. Coaches did not believe his style of play worked well on offense.
His disposition didn’t exactly help, either.
“As a rookie tight end, I’d gotten kicked out of three games for fighting. And at the end of the year, they told me they didn’t think I had the proper temperament to be successful on offense and wanted to move me to outside linebacker,” Zabel says. “I jumped at the opportunity.”
For his second season, he shed 40 of the 270 pounds he weighed as a blocking tight end to line up at outside linebacker, where he would play the rest of his career.
Zabel played 110 games on defense, racking up 13 fumbles and 14 sacks across his 10-year career spent with the Eagles, Patriots and the Baltimore Colts.
After retiring from the league, Zabel coached high school football and established numerous charitable programs in Oklahoma City. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2015
Zabel is survived by his wife, three childen, several grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
