Former Notre Dame/Detroit Lions Player Cifelli Dies

Gus Cifelli, a star tackle who helped lead Notre Dame to three national championships and the Detroit Lions to the 1952 NFL title, has died of natural causes at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, according to Terry Desmond, owner of A.J. Desmond & Sons funeral home. He was 84.

Cifelli was born in Philadelphia in 1925 and served in the Marines during World War II. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1950, after which he was drafted by the Detroit Lions. He also played for Green Bay, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

He was elected in 1973 as a judge to the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills. He retired from the bench in 2000. Cifelli will be buried Wednesday at Highland Cemetery in South Bend, Ind.