Stan Kostka

Who was Stan Kostka?

Stanislaus Clarence "Stan" Kostka was an American football fullback in the National Football League and later a college football coach.

Kostka played for the University of Minnesota Gophers and was a member of the 1934 team that won the National Championship. He played for the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935. Later he was head coach of North Dakota State Bison football team.

Kostka, a squarely built 6-foot, 225-pounder who only played one year, received offers from the Bears, Packers, Giants, Steelers, and Brooklyn. "A team would send me a wire and say they'd give me $3,500," he recalls. "I'd send a wire back and say Green Bay or the Chicago Bears said they'd give me $4,000. I kept that up"

Kostka eventually culminated the bargaining by signing a $5,000 contract, along with a $500 bonus, with Brooklyn. "That was a big deal then," says Kostka. "I think like Nagurski was in the league about three years and making $4,00 or less. Most of the guys were making $50 a ball game."

Kostka was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.