Bob Kalsu

Who was Bob Kalsu?

James Robert "Bob" Kalsu was an All-American tackle at the University of Oklahoma and an eighth-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League in 1968.

Kalsu was a starting guard in 1968. He played the entire season and was the Bills' team rookie-of-the-year. Following the 1968 season, to satisfy his Reserve Officers' Training Corps obligation, he entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant and arrived in Vietnam in November 1969 as part of the 101st Airborne Division. He was killed in action on July 21, 1970 when his unit came under enemy mortar fire at FSB Ripcord near the A Shau Valley. His family, out of respect, refused to talk in detail about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Lieutenant Kalsu had one child, a daughter named Jill. At home in Oklahoma City, his wife, Jan Kalsu, gave birth to his son, James Robert Kalsu Jr., on July 23. Mrs. Kalsu was informed of her husband's death only hours later. Kalsu and former Cleveland Brown Don Steinbrunner were the only professional football players to lose their lives in the Vietnam War.