Tonnemaker, weighing in at 11 pounds, was born on June 8, 1928 on a farm near Ogilvie, Minnesota, to Anna Nelson and Frank Clayton Tonnemaker. After his father died when Clayton was 7, he and his mother and sister, Lucille, sold their farm at auction and moved to the town of Rush City, Minnesota.
The family later moved to Northeast Minneapolis, and Clayton attended Edison High School.
Tonnemaker was an All-American at the University of Minnesota, where he played center linebacker. In 1980 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Youth Tonnemaker lettered in football at Rush City High School as an 8th grader.
After moving to Minneapolis, Tonnemaker played center for the Edison football team, serving as captain and winning All-City Honors.
He unofficially played for the Minnesota Gophers while in high school, even scoring a touchdown during a 1946 spring season scrimmage. lieutenant was not legal for a high schooler to train with a college team at the time, so the Gophers didn’t acknowledge this.
College: University of Minnesota Tonnemaker officially began playing center linebacker for the Gophers during his freshman year, 1946, when a World World War II-era ruling made it legal for freshman to play in the Big Ten. Before the war this was not allowed.
He became part of a group of Gopher players known as the "49ers, their year of graduation.
Along with Leo Nomellini, Tonnemaker was part of a defensive line that allowed “an average of less than nine points a game in the "49ers’ final season”. Gopher Company-Captain - 1949 Consensus All-American 1949 (unanimous choice) 1949 Look Magazine Eleven (named by the Football Writers Association of America) 1st Team 1949 Sporting News All-American 1949 Minneapolis Star named him Minnesota’s greatest center in football history 1949 - # 7 in the voting Company-Captain of the winning East team in the East-West Shrine Game - December 1949 (scored his only touchdown on an intercepted pass and 70 yard run) Company-Captain of the All-Star Team at the Chicago College All-Star Game that beat the Philadelphia Eagles 17 to 7 - August 1950 Professional: Green Bay Packers Originally drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, his pro contract was transferred to the Green Bay Packers after the All-America Football Conference merged with the NFL in 1950 and the rules changed. The Packers made him their number one National Football League draft pick in 1950 (4th in the NFL overall), and paid him $8,000 a year, the top salary on the team
Tonnemaker played center and middle linebacker.
Named All-Pro in his rookie season (1950) and again after his war service in 1953 Picked to play in the first Pro Bowl ever (January 14, 1951) but missed it because he had to report for Army duty Captain 1953/1954 Played from 1950-1954 Honors and awards Served in the Korean War for 32 months, 18 months as a Lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps in Japan. 1961-1965 - NFL football commentator on Columbia Broadcasting System 1979 - Became President of Coal Creek Mining Company in Ashland, Montana Tonnemaker spent the last years of his life in Minnesota and Wisconsin, close to his family, where he was involved in private business ventures.
Minnesota Football Hall of Fame: 1946, 47, 48, 49 National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame: 1980 Played on 10 teams and named the captain of each one Chicago Tribune All-Time All-Big Ten Team - Center State of Minnesota Football Hall of Fame - 1981 Gopher Men's Sports Hall of Fame - 1992.
