Robert Barton (Bob) Westfall

Robert Barton (Bob) Westfall

University of Michigan Football Player (1939 - 1941)
Detroit Lions Player (1944 - 1947)

Bob Westfall was born in Hamtramck, Michigan and moved to Ann Arbor at a young age, where he starred in football, basketball, baseball and track at Ann Arbor High School. He went on to play at the University of Michigan and was in the same backfield in 1940 as Tom Harmon and Forest Evashevski. In 1941 he was named captain and had an outstanding season leading the Wolverines to a 6 – 1 – 1 record earning consensus All-American honors. He was selected by the Detroit Lions as the ninth overall pick in the 1942 NFL Draft. Before he got a chance to play for the Lions he spent two years in the military in World War II before receiving a medical discharge from the Army Air Corps. From 1944 – 1947 Westfall played with the Lions. Bob Westfall was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1982, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987, and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. He passed away on October 23, 1980 at 61 years of age.