Paul Costa

NFL player


Caption=Costa breaks away against the Raiders, 1965
DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1941|12|7
PlaceOfBirth= Port Chester, NY
Position=Tight end
College=Notre Dame
Height_ft=6
Height_in=4
AFLDraftedYear=1964
AFLDraftedRound=14 / Pick 3
Stats=Y
Career Highlights=yes
number=82
Records=
Awards=
Retired #s=
Honors=1965 AFL Champion
Stats=yes
PFR=CostPa00.htm
DatabaseFootball=COSTAPAU01
CBS=
years=1965-1969
1970-1972
teams=AFL Buffalo Bills
NFL Buffalo Bills
AFLAllStar= 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966,
1967, 1968, 1969
CollegeHOF=
HOF=

S. Paul Costa (born December 7, 1941 in Port Chester, New York) is a retired American collegiate and professional football tight end. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame's Fighting Irish. The American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs drafted him in his junior year, 1964, but he did not make the active roster, and was traded to the AFL's Buffalo Bills for the 1965season. He won a starting job at tight end his rookie year with the Bills, and soon became an excellent tight end, being named an AFL All-Star in his first two seasons.

As a rookie, Costa averaged 19.1 yards per catch. For his career, he averaged 16.7 yards per catch. In his first year, in the 1965 AFL Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, he teamed with Ernie Warlick in one of the first uses of the "double tight end" formation installed by head coach Lou Saban. Costa caught two passes for 32 yards, Warlick caught three for 35 yards and a touchdown as the Bills defeated the Chargers for the second consecutive year, this time shutting them out 23 - 0, the first shutout in AFL Championship game history. In Costa's fifth year in Pro Football, he moved to offensive tackle and played that position for four years. After playing eight years for the Bills, he retired for one year, then came out of retirement to play for the Birmingham Americans of the World Football League for two years.

Costa has a B.A. degree in Communications from Notre Dame. He also has a Masters and Ph.D. from the California Graduate School of Theology. Paul has been in full time ministry since retiring. He was a pastor for sixteen years, but now travels nationally and internationally as a speaker in churches, conferences, and schools. He has co-authoreda book with Dr. John Kelly (End Time Warriors) that was published by Regal Book.

ee also

*Other American Football League players