John Jay "Big John" Kissell (May 14, 1923April 9, 1992) was an American football defensive tackle who played for the Buffalo Bills in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1940s and 1950s. He played college football at Boston College.
Kissell grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, and attended Boston College on an athletic scholarship. He played there for the 1942 season, when the school's football team made the Orange Bowl but lost to Alabama. He then entered the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in Europe, Africa and the Middle East for three years. He returned to college after the war and played football for two more seasons.
Kissell signed with the Bills in 1948 and played there for two years before the AAFC dissolved and the team disbanded. He was then sent to the Browns in a deal orchestrated by coach Paul Brown to acquire former Buffalo players. He played in Cleveland through 1956, interrupted by one year with the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. He was part of a defensive line that featured Len Ford, Don Colo and Bob Gain, who helped the Browns win NFL championships in 1950, 1954, and 1955. Kissell spent two years away from football after leaving the Browns, returning to play for the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen in Canada for the 1959 season. He then retired from playing and became a junior high school teacher back in Nashua. He died of cancer in 1992.
Early life and college
Kissell grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire and attended Nashua High School, where he played basketball, track and football in the late 1930s under head coach Pete Chesnulevich. He was named an all-New Hampshire tackle in two of his years at Nashua. He later attended La Salle Military Academy, a private Roman Catholic high school in Oakdale, New York.
After graduating, Kissell enrolled at Boston College on an athletic scholarship. He was on a Boston College Eagles football team that finished the 1942 season with an 8–2 win–loss record under head coach Denny Myers and lost to Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Kissell then entered the U.S. Army as American involvement in World War II intensified. He was a private stationed at first at Fort Hood in Texas, and played for the base's service football team before being sent to Europe. He spent time at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in Fontainebleau outside of Paris in 1945, and also served in Africa and the Middle East. Kissell returned to Boston after the war and played as a defensive lineman in the 1946 and 1947 seasons.
Professional career
Kissell was selected by the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams in the 12th round of the 1947 draft, but instead joined the Buffalo Bills of the rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1948. Buffalo finished the regular season 7–7 in a tie with the Baltimore Colts for first place in the AAFC East. After beating the Colts in a playoff, the Bills lost the AAFC championship game to the Cleveland Browns. The Bills finished 5–5–2 the following season, losing again to the Browns in a playoff. Kissell was named an All-Pro defensive tackle by the International News Service after the season. The AAFC disbanded at the end of 1949 because of financial struggles stemming from poor attendance and competition over player salaries, and three of its teams – the Browns, Colts and San Francisco 49ers – were absorbed by the NFL.
In 1950, players from the AAFC's defunct teams – including the Bills – went into a dispersal draft. Kissell, however, was sold along with halfback Rex Bumgardner and guard (American football) Abe Gibron to the Browns in a deal that gave Bills owner James Breuil a 25% share in the team. In the Browns, Kissell joined a team that had won all of the AAFC's four championships behind an offense that featured quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley and ends Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli. Yet while the Browns had been the league's best team, many sportswriters and owners doubted that the team would continue its string of success in the NFL starting in 1950. Cleveland began the season by beating the previous year's NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and went on to win the NFL championship over the Los Angeles Rams. Kissell finished his education at Boston College in 1950, graduating with a bachelor's degree in education and government.