Paul Champlin

EMC Billings, San Franciso 49ers

Paul Champlin Biography - by Rick Halmes

Every locality has its sports heroes of different eras, and the great city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is no exception.  Paul Champlin was born June 24th, 1947, in Pittsburgh. There were three sisters (Ruth, Helen, and Barbara) and one older brother (Lawrence Jr.) when Paul and his twin sister Pauline were born to Lawrence and Beatrice Champlin. When his mother was asked about her children, she would say that two of the six she never had two worry about.  If you put a book in front of Ruth (Paul’s eldest sister), she would be busy for hours. If you but a ball in Paul’s hands, he would play for hours. From an early age Paul’s athletic gifting was seen and attracted attention from neighborhood coaches in every sport. By the time he reached high school, he was playing multiple sports year-round.  But he had a special affinity for baseball and football. Childhood friend Eugene “Mercury” Morris said about his friend Paul Champlin that “Paul was the elite quarterback in all of Pittsburgh at that time”. Paul ended up at Eastern Montana College while Mercury went to West Texas State.

After watching film on Paul, head coach Bob Lee immediately extended a scholarship offer.  Champlin had to think about it. Billings, Montana was a long way from his home-town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Eventually Champlin took up the scholarship offer. Paul was used to the sights of riverfronts, crowds of people, and the tall buildings of the city.  The bus ride west to the “Big Sky” country introduced him to a lot of different scenery. Although it took some time to adjust, he became grateful for the opportunity to embrace new surroundings and culture to which he had never previously been exposed.

As football practices began, Paul started to get acquainted with his new teammates.  He met fellow quarterback and future life-long friend, John Astorquia from Twin Falls, Idaho.  Players like Gary Monahan from Butte, Dan Bovee and Mike Dawson from Powell, Wyoming, Bob Lochrie “The Man” at running back, Johnny Strange- an extremely fast receiver from New York, Bart Templeman who played center from Idaho (who also ended up going to the Niners in 1967), and Charley Williams from Compton, California who was the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year.  Paul spent most of his first year behind the senior captain quarterback Monahan. He still managed to throw four touchdowns in the limited playing time he received thus drawing the attention and support of Eastern Montana College basketball head coach Mike Harkins and athletic director Harold “Shorty” Alterowitz.

As a sophomore Paul had earned the starting position at quarterback and threw for twelve touchdowns to the likes of Randy Shemerhorn, Renzy Cushing, and Bill “Wondo” Wondolowski.  Champlin began to hear from NFL scouts. Paul’s production went up each year throwing nineteen touchdowns his junior year and twenty-six touchdowns his senior year. His wideouts, Cushing and Wondolowski each caught for over one thousand yards.  Eastern also added tight end Tim Morrow in 1968 who added another dimension to Head Coach Bob Lee’s cutting-edge offense. Running backs Randy Ecker and Ray Willet punished defenders and complemented Eastern’s high octane passing attack. Behind his linemen Jim Dow, Larry Chouinard, Ric LeCoure, John Kowalski, Fred Zaino, Rich DeMarco, tackle Doug Linehan, centers Bart Templeman and Rick Halmes, Paul led Eastern to three Frontier Conference Championships. Paul was a repeat Frontier Conference Player of the Year and was also named the conference’s Player of the Decade for the 60’s.

By then, the Rams, 49’ers, and the Cowboys were in steady touch with Champlin. Eventually Paul was drafted in 1969, by both the San Francisco 49’ers and by the British Columbia Lions, a CFL team.  When Paul was drafted, John Brodie was the starting quarterback for San Francisco. George Mira and Heisman trophy winner Steve Spurrier also were on the team. NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Y. A. Tittle was Paul’s quarterback coach in San Francisco.  Paul was drafted in a time before black athletes were truly given a shot to start at the quarterback position. John Brodie later played golf on the senior PGA Tour. Montana Football Hall of Fame Donor Bill Dolan from Billings was a physical therapist for the tour in the 80’s.  While at a tour event Brodie told Dolan that “Paul Champlin had the strongest passing talent of any player on the team in those days”.

Today, after a career mostly with the 3M Corporation, Paul is enjoying retirement.  Residing in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He happily lives within walking distance of all three of Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams. Paul had two children during his marriage with Mary Beeter.  Nathan (who lives in Billings with his wife Lynette and four daughters Sara, Leah, Mikayla, and Olivia) and Jayme, who is a senior field services consultant and lives in Denver. Paul will tell you that his days in the Big Sky country of Montana were some of the best of his life and his career at Eastern Montana College allowed him to reach a lifelong goal- a chance in the NFL.

-Rick Halmes 2019

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