Born in eastern Ohio in Martins Ferry, just north and across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia, Groza's parents were immigrants from Transylvania, part of modern-day Romania. His Hungarian mother Mary and Romanian father John (Ioan) Groza owned and ran Groza's Tavern on Main Street. Lou was the smallest in stature of four boys in an athletic family; his brother Alex became a star basketball player at the University of Kentucky, a member of two national championship teams.

After Groza retired, he entertained an offer to play for the San Francisco 49ers, but was reluctant to do so because he did not want to move his family and insurance business to the West Coast. He was offered a spot with the Browns as a kicking coach, helping mentor the young Don Cockroft, but he declined. Later in life, he became an ambassador and father figure for the Browns, inviting rookies over for dinner and helping them find apartments. He continued to run a successful insurance business and lived in Berea, Ohio near the Browns' headquarters and training facility. He and his wife Jackie were known as the team's First Family. Modell relocated the Browns to Baltimore in 1995 and renamed the team the Ravens, provoking a wave of anger and disbelief from fans and former players. Groza was a leading critic of the move, saying it was "like some man walking off with your wife." In 1996, Groza wrote a memoir titled The Toe: The Lou Groza Story. The Browns restarted as an expansion team in 1999. Groza was hobbled in the late 1990s by back and hip surgeries and Parkinson's disease. He suffered a heart attack in 2000 after dinner with his wife at Columbia Hills Country Club in Columbia Station, Ohio. He was taken to a hospital in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, where he died. He was buried in Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmsted, Ohio. Groza and his wife had three sons and a daughter. Following Groza's death, the Browns wore his number 76 on their helmets for the 2001 season.

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