Football Career Room
Follow Frank Andrew Fuller from DuBois and the University of Kentucky through Army service and a professional career with the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles.
Career Snapshot
Frank’s football story is a story of position flexibility, interruptions, recovery, and recognition across several distinct eras.
Frank began as a tackle, was converted to offensive center at Kentucky, served on both sides of the line, and returned to tackle as a senior. In professional football, his identity settled around the defensive line, especially defensive tackle.
Kentucky’s own 1952 profile described that versatility with the period phrase “shock trooper” — a player who could fill the position most needed.
Verified Career Path
The Cardinals chapter is split between Chicago and St. Louis so the timeline reflects the franchise’s location in each season rather than treating every Cardinals year as a St. Louis season.
Frank built his early reputation as a right tackle and multi-sport athlete. His senior-year football evidence records first-team all-district recognition.
Frank moved between tackle and offensive center, became a two-way veteran, earned letters in 1950, 1951 and 1952, and developed into one of Kentucky’s most trusted defensive linemen.
Explore the Kentucky Years Room →The redacted Veterans Affairs BIRLS record documents Army service during the early professional period. The public exhibit treats this as an Army-service interruption rather than using unsupported draft wording.
Frank entered professional football with Los Angeles. Team material later described him as an outstanding rookie defensive tackle, a great pass rusher, and a spirited player.
Explore the Rams Years Room →Frank arrived in the Ollie Matson trade and reached the strongest recognition of his career: a 1959 Pro Bowl selection and separate second-team All-NFL selections from the Associated Press and New York Daily News.
Explore the Cardinals Years Room →After the franchise moved to St. Louis, Frank continued as a veteran defensive lineman and leader. His 1960 season brought The Sporting News All-NFL First Team recognition before a broken leg ended the season.
Explore the Cardinals Years Room →Philadelphia acquired Frank from St. Louis in exchange for guard John Wiltenborn. Historical Eagles records list him as No. 72 and appearing in five games before a broken leg ended his season.
Explore the Eagles Years Room →Position Journey
The changing position labels in Frank’s record are not simply contradictions. Contemporary sources document real movement between roles.
The starting foundation: right tackle in DuBois and tackle during Kentucky’s early period.
Kentucky converted Frank from tackle to center and used him there as part of his developing varsity role.
By his senior Kentucky season he was used wherever needed, then became known professionally as a defensive tackle and defensive leader.
Career Turning Points
A few events explain the major changes and gaps in Frank’s football career.
A contemporary account reported that Frank’s first collegiate minutes came against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and that Bear Bryant awarded him a letter for the performance.
Frank was among the Kentucky defenders credited with sparking the 20–7 Cotton Bowl victory over TCU and entered his senior season as an established veteran lineman.
Military service interrupted the early Rams chapter before Frank returned to professional football.
A broken leg in the fifth preseason game cost Frank the entire league season, creating another gap in the playing record.
The Rams sent Frank to the Chicago Cardinals in the major Ollie Matson trade, beginning the most decorated period of Frank’s professional career.
Frank earned The Sporting News All-NFL First Team recognition for the 1960 season, but a broken leg ended his year early.
Frank’s Eagles chapter ended with another reported broken leg, closing his documented NFL playing career.
Recognition Layer
Each recognition is kept tied to its year and selector. Newspaper praise and later legacy recognition are not silently converted into broader awards.
National college recognition preserved at the honorable-mention level.
Selected with the Chicago Cardinals for the 1959 season. Current roster evidence supports selection; it is not presented here as proof of game snaps.
A selector-specific national professional honor.
A separate selector recognition kept distinct from the Associated Press selection.
The highest clearly documented first-team professional honor in the current archive.
Posthumous Class of 2023 induction recognizing Frank’s complete football career and Kentucky connection.
Reading the Record
A year-by-year list can make Frank’s career look inconsistent unless the interruptions are explained.
1954: Rams material records Frank as absent because of service.
1956: Frank remained in the Rams organization, but a preseason broken leg cost him the entire league season.
1959–1962: The Cardinals franchise moved from Chicago to St. Louis after the 1959 season, so the two locations are shown separately.
1963: Eagles records show five games before a season-ending broken leg.
Career Images
The Career Room uses representative images without repeating the full Photo Gallery.
Team context from the years before Kentucky.
A visual anchor for Frank’s senior college period.
Public-safe evidence for the military interruption.
1953 Rams-era portrait.
Representative image from the St. Louis years.
A surviving 1961 feature source from the Cardinals chapter.
Press Snapshot
This is only a small career-page sampling. Newspaper and publication language remains distinct from formal awards and from Frank’s own direct quotations.
“shock trooper”
A period description of Frank’s ability to move between tackle and center where needed.
“great pass rusher”
Rams profile language describing his professional defensive reputation.
“Football’s Forgotten Man”
The title of the surviving long-form feature centered on Frank.
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