Editing Lex Luger (section)

== Football career ==
Luger attended [[Secondary school|high school]] and played [[American football|football]] in [[Orchard Park (town), New York|Orchard Park, New York]]. He then attended [[Penn State University]] on a football [[scholarship]], but transferred to the [[University of Miami]] after his freshman year when the Penn State coaches thought he should move to [[linebacker]] or [[defensive end]]. Luger was an avid basketball player in his youth, and though he rarely played soccer, is a fan of English soccer club [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]]. He eventually decided his skills would be better suited to football. He sat out the 1977 season as a [[redshirt (college sports)|redshirt]] transfer student in Coral Gables.

In 1978, Luger played for the [[Miami Hurricanes football|Miami Hurricanes]], which featured future [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] quarterback [[Jim Kelly]], [[Jim Burt (American football)|Jim Burt]], Mitch Guittar, [[Fred Marion]], and [[Mark Richt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/news/story?id=3016179|title=Fish: Lex Luger's drug-abuse survival story|date=September 13, 2007|website=ESPN.com}}</ref> He was kicked off the team for what Luger referred to as "off-the-field incidents".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Palm |first1=Michael |title=Total Package |url=http://www.collegian.psu.edu:8080/archive/1996_jan-dec/02/02-29-96tdc/02-29-96d03-003.htm |website=The Digital Collegian |date=February 29, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620142750/http://www.collegian.psu.edu:8080/archive/1996_jan-dec/02/02-29-96tdc/02-29-96d03-003.htm |archive-date=June 20, 2013|access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref> On the team's road trip to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech, Luger, who was suffering from cabin fever and disappointed at not being named a starter by coach [[Lou Saban]] by the 5th game of the season, snapped and trashed his hotel room.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Simon |first1=J. D. |title=NFL Draft Futures and Redshirting at the U |url=http://hurricanewarriors.com/joomla/?option=com_content&task=view&id=253&Itemid=99999999&limit=1&limitstart=3 |website=HurricanwWarriors |date=April 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129104857/http://hurricanewarriors.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=253&Itemid=99999999&limit=1&limitstart=3|archive-date=November 29, 2014|access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref>

Upon leaving Miami, he played professional football for the [[Montreal Alouettes]] of the [[Canadian Football League]] where he played in the [[67th Grey Cup]] against the [[Edmonton Eskimos]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IIkxAAAAIBAJ&pg=3593,1975003|title=The Montreal Gazette − Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> He then signed with the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the [[National Football League]], but never played in a game and thus is not listed on their all-time roster, though he did spend the entire 1982 season on the team's [[injured reserve]] list with a groin problem incurred during training camp.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9o2_k8zu4QC&q=lex+luger+packers&pg=PA91|title=Packers by the Numbers: Jersey Numbers and the Players who Wore Them|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|author=Maxymuk, John|year=2003|isbn=9781879483903}}</ref> He returned to the Packers training camp in 1983, but he was released before the regular season began.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cflapedia.com/Players/p/pfohl_larry.htm|title=Larry Pfohl|publisher=cflapedia.com|access-date=December 13, 2014}}</ref> Luger wore number 66 for the Packers, the last player to do so before it was retired for [[Ray Nitschke]]. Luger said in a 2018 interview with the [[Green Bay Press-Gazette]] his wrestling career might have never happened had it worked out with the Packers. "I would have loved to have had a long-term career with the Packers; are you kidding me?" Pfohl said. "If I did, I probably wouldn't have become a wrestler. So, in the big picture, it worked out for me in that regard ... Had it worked out in Green Bay, I seriously doubt I would have become a pro wrestler."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Venci |first1=Scott |title=Larger-than-life pro wrestling icon would love to have had career with Green Bay Packers |url=https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2018/09/18/green-bay-packers-passed-larry-pfohl-lex-luger/1214462002/ |access-date=June 15, 2022 |work=Green Bay Press-Gazette |date=September 18, 2018}}</ref>

In 1984, Luger finished his football career playing in the [[United States Football League]] for the [[Tampa Bay Bandits]], [[Memphis Showboats]] and [[Jacksonville Bulls]]. He was a teammate of future WCW rival [[Ron Simmons]] while playing for the Tampa Bay Bandits.<ref name="OWW"/>