Muskegon High School’s Paul Dekker was a standout end with All-State credentials on some otherwise disappointing Big Red teams in Harry Potter’s first two years as head coach. Dekker was the archetype physical specimen for a football end – big, strong and possessing a sure pair of hands. He was a college coach’s dream recruit for the end position. Dekker entered Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) on an academic scholarship in 1949. A welcome addition to head coach Biggie Munn’s Spartans, Paul added depth to an end position hit hard by graduation. As a junior, he finally broke into the starting lineup against Ohio State. Dekker caught a pass for a touchdown as the second-ranked Spartans came back to defeat the seventh-ranked Buckeyes, 24-20. Dekker remained in the lineup as the Spartans finished the year as the runner-up for the 1951 national title in the Associated Press poll.
Michigan State won its first national championship the following season, with a 9-0-0 record. Singled out as a “master at opening holes as well as at pass catching,” the Muskegon native was selected by the Associated Press as a member of their All-Western team. Dekker represented the Spartans in the annual East-West Shrine contest, pulling in a game-record nine receptions for 100 yards. A member of the 1953 College All-Stars and the 1953 Hula Bowl squad, he was selected in the third round of the National Football League draft by the Washington Redskins.
Dekker remained with the Redskins for only one season. In 1954, he joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. In nine seasons of action in Canada, Dekker played in the Grey Cup championship contest (the CFL’s equivalent of the NFL’s Super Bowl) on five occasions. Selected to the All Eastern/All Western All-Star team four times, Dekker tied a Grey Cup record for the longest completed pass with a 90-yard touchdown reception in the Tiger-Cats’ 21-14 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 1961 Grey Cup game.
Picked as an honorary member of Hamilton’s “Team of the Decade”, Dekker retired from professional ball following the 1962 season.