Career
He played for the NFL"s Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935. Later he was head coach of North Dakota State Bison football team (1941, 1946–1947). Kostka, a squarely built 6-foot, 225-pounder who only played one year, received offers from the Bears, Packers, Giants, Steelers, and Brooklyn.
"A team would send me a wire and say they"d give me $3,500," he recalls.
"I"d send a wire back and say Green Bay or the Chicago Bears said they"d give me $4,000. I kept that up"
Kostka eventually culminated the bargaining by signing a $5,000 contract, along with a $500 bonus, with Brooklyn.
"That was a big deal then," says Kostka. "I think like Nagurski was in the league about three years and making $400 or less.
Most of the guys were making $50 a ball game."
Kostka was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
