Pete Newell ( American football ) Peter Newell ( born March 9 , 1949 ) is a former American football defensive lineman . He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1970 . He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 1971 NFL Draft , but played professional football for the BC Lions in 1971 . Early years . Newell grew up in Park Ridge , Illinois , and attended Notre Dame College Prep and was a member of the school ' s 1966 state championship football team . He graduated from Notre Dame in 1967 . Michigan . Newell played college football for the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1970 . As a junior , he was the leading tackler for the 1969 Michigan Wolverines football team with a total of 70 tackles . The 1969 team was the first Michigan team to be coached by Bo Schembechler . It defeated the No . 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes to advance to the 1970 Rose Bowl . Newell had 14 tackles in the Rose Bowl , tied for second most on the team . Newell was politically active while at Michigan . During the fall of 1969 , he was faced with a choice between traveling with the Michigan football team to Iowa for a football game scheduled for November 15 , 1969 , or traveling to Washington , D . C . , to be part of the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam , an antiwar protest that attracted over 500 , 000 demonstrators on the same day . After Newell chose to travel with the team , Schembechler praised him in his comments to the team for being " out there in Iowa City with the rest of the team , and not in Washington with the damn hippies where he really wanted to be . " As a senior , Newell started at right defensive tackle in nine of the ten games played by the 1970 Michigan Wolverines football team . That team finished the season with a 9 - 1 record and allowed opponents to score a total of only 90 points , an average of nine points per game . On October 3 , 1970 , Newell had a career - high 15 tackles and a fumble recovery in Michigan ' s 14 - 10 victory over Texas A & M . He had 123 career tackles in his three years at Michigan . At the end of the 1970 season , Newell was selected as a first - team All - Big Ten Conference player by both the AP and UPI . He also played for the North team in the America Bowl All - Star football game in January 1971 . Professional football . In January 1971 , Newell was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round ( 125th overall pick ) of the 1971 NFL Draft . However , he did not appear in any regular season NFL games . In September 1971 , the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League announced that they were giving Newell a five - day tryout . After the trial period , he was activated by the Lions . He appeared in one game for the Lions and was released on September 24 , 1971 . Later years . After retiring from football , Newell returned to the Chicago area . He worked for 32 years in the financial services field for Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets , and he also served as the president of the Chicago Bond Club , the Children ' s Home and Aid Society of Illinois , and the University of Michigan Club of Chicago . He was also a member of the executive board of his alma mater , Notre Dame College Prep . Newell is married to Nancy Newell . They have three sons , Peter , Kevin and Brian . In 2009 , Newell was inducted into the Notre Dame College Prep Hall of Honor .