Education
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Canadeo attended Charles P. Steinmetz Academic Centre, formerly known as Steinmetz High School, a public four-year high school located in Chicago"s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Canadeo attended Charles P. Steinmetz Academic Centre, formerly known as Steinmetz High School, a public four-year high school located in Chicago"s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
lieutenant is a part of the Chicago Public Schools District 299 and was named for the handicapped German-American mathematician and electrical engineer Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865–1923). Canadeo played college football at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where he was first known as the "Gray Ghost of Gonzaga," due to his prematurely graying hair. The university dropped the football program in 1941, so he was the last Zag to play pro football.
He also boxed for the Bulldogs during his senior year, and was named team captain.
Canadeo was selected by the Packers in the ninth round (77th overall) of the 1941 NFL draft. During the war, he first served in the United States. Navy, then joined the United States. Army and missed most of the 1944 season and all of 1945.
He returned in 1946 and became Green Bay"s primary ball carrier. He rushed for 1,052 yards in 1949, but the Packers struggled to a 2–10 (167) record.
Canadeo is one of only six Green Bay Packers to have his number retired by the team
His number (3) was retired immediately in 1952, preceded by Don Hutson (14) in 1951, and followed by Baronet Starr (15) in 1973, Ray Nitschke (66) in 1983, Reggie White (92) in 2005, and Brett Favre (4) in 2015. Canadeo was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973. He remained listed as one of the directors emeritus.
He played a small part in helping Jack Vainisi reassure Vince Lombardi in 1959 that the transition from New York City, where Lombardi served as an assistant coach for the New York Giants, to Green Bay would be comfortable for his family.
Canadeo was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974, the first from Gonzaga, edging Ray Flaherty by two years. Canadeo died in Green Bay in 2003 at the age of 84.
After his playing career, Canadeo continued his association with the Packers as a television analyst and member of the organization"s executive committee.