Walt Michaels

Walter Edward Michaels, born Walter Edward Majka, was an American professional football player and coach who lived from October 16, 1929, to July 10, 2019. Born to a Polish family, he was the son of a coal miner from Swoyersville, Pennsylvania. The family surname, originally Majka, was anglicized to Michaels in school.

A two-sport athlete at his local high school, Michaels played collegiately as a fullback at Washington & Lee University. During the 1950 season, he helped the Generals reach the Gator Bowl, but an appendicitis attack suffered one week before the New Year's Day game kept him out of the contest. In the 1951 NFL draft, he was selected in the seventh round by the Cleveland Browns, then traded to the Green Bay Packers.

Michaels is best remembered for his six-year tenure as head coach of the National Football League's New York Jets, which ran from 1977 to 1982. In 1977, he was inducted into both the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. He was later inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the football category with the Class of 1997.