Born Lyle Martin Alzado on the 3rd April 1949 in Brooklyn, New York USA, he was a professional American Football player who spent 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), playing as a defensive end for the Denver Broncos (1971-1978), Cleveland Browns (1979-1981) and Los Angeles Raiders (1982-1985). During his career, Lyle won the Super Bowl in 1983 season with the Raiders, and played in two Pro-Bowl games, in 1977 and 1978, while he was named as the UPI AFC Player of the Year in 1977, among other recognitions. He passed away on the 14th May 1992 in Portland, Oregon from brain cancer.
Have you ever wondered how rich Lyle Alzado was, at the time of his death? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Alzado’s net worth is as high as $2 million, an amount earned through his career in professional American Football, which was active from 1971 until 1985.
Lyle Alzado Net Worth $2 Million
Lyle was the son of an Italian-Spanish father and a Jewish mother. He spent most of his childhood in Brooklyn, New York but when he turned ten, he and his family moved to Cedarhurst, Long Island. Lyle went to Lawrence High School where he started playing football, and in three years was a candidate for a Vardon Trophy.
Unfortunately, after finished high school, Lyle didn’t receive any scholarship offers from colleges across the USA, and as a result enrolled at Kilgore College, after two years moving to Yankton College, located in South Dakota – apparently team-mates and college administrators asked him to leave college due to his friendship with a black student. He played for the Yankton College football team, and though he didn’t have exposure to CFL and NFL scouts, he was seen by one of the scouts of Denver Broncos who accidentally happened to have seen a game between Yankton and Montana Tech, in which Lyle was a dominant force for his team. Consequently he was selected by the Denver Broncos as the 79th overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, Lyle played in 12 games and had 60 tackles and eight sacks. After the season ended, Lyle was back at college finishing his studies; he graduated with a BA degree in physical education.
The following season, Lyle became the team’s sensation, with 91 tackles and 10.5 sacks, while in 1973 he led his team to a positive end of the season, the first time in the team history as they had 7-5-2 season result. Lyle continued to build up his game performance, and in 1977 earned his first Pro Bowl selection, while he also made the All-Pro team and All-AFC. The same year, the Broncos reached Super Bowl but were beaten by the Dallas Cowboys.
During 1979 Lyle and Broncos front office tried to reach an agreement over new contract, however, they couldn’t settle on contract worth and how long it would keep him a part of the franchise, and as a result he was traded to the Cleveland Browns, where he continued with dominating performances, leading the Browns to the AFC Central division finals. He had some injury problems in 1981, and later troubles in private life, but kept his professionalism with 83 tackles and 8.5 sacks. Unfortunately, the rest of the Browns didn’t follow him up on his performance, and Cleveland suffered a negative season with only five victories.
After the end of 1981 season, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, who became Los Angeles Raiders in 1982. He stayed with the Raiders until 1985 and won the Super Bowl in 1983 when they dominated the Washington Redskins 38:9, setting the record for winning with the highest margin and also most points scored by an AFC team in a Super Bowl.
He retired at the end of the 1985 season, but five years later, Lyle tried to make a come-back, however, he injured his knee during preseason training and was released by the Raiders.
He shortly worked as a color analyst for NBC, covering NFL games on the network during the 1988-1989 season, which also contributed to his wealth.
Regarding his personal life, Lyle married four times – his fourth wife was Kathy Alzado Murray who he married in 1991 and the two remained until his death in 1992. He first married in 1975 to Sharon Sarvak; the two divorced five years later and didn’t have children. Four years after divorcing Sharon, Lyle married Cindy with whom he had one child before their divorce the year following the wedding. His third wife was Kris Alzado, with whom he was married from 1987 until 1989.
Lyle admitted that he had been using steroids since the start of his career and later in life, without stopping, and he believed that the use of steroids led to the brain cancer that killed him. He passed away on the 14th May 1992 in Portland, Oregon – his remains were interred at River View Cemetery in Portland.
