From Washington State, Keith Lincoln elected to sign with the San Diego Chargers, as opposed to the Buffalo Bills, who chose him in the 1961 Draft.

Melvin Ingram was a First Round Pick in 2012 who was used as a backup Linebacker in his rookie year.  A torn ACL in his second training camp kept him out most of the year, but he returned and methodically worked his way into one of the better defensive players of the year.

Kenny Graham became a Charger after the 1963 college season when San Diego selected the Washington State safety in the 13th round of the AFL draft. The Baltimore Colts also selected him in the NFL Draft, but in May 1964 he signed with the Chargers, joining the team the year after it won its only AFL championship. The late-round pick out of the Cougars quickly stepped into a starting role at safety and began producing turnovers right away.

At about 6-foot and 210 pounds, he was a rangy, physical safety who could cover deep and still come up and deliver hits against the run. In his first season, he picked off four passes, then followed with five interceptions in three of the next four years. He was an AFL All-Star four times (1965, 1967, 1968, and 1969) and earned First-Team All-AFL honors in 1966—ironically one of the two years he did not make the All-Star team. He returned five of his interceptions for touchdowns during his Chargers run, including a 68-yarder in 1967 and a pair of scores in 1969. He was the kind of safety who could erase a deep throw one play, then turn a short interception into a big return the next, giving San Diego a reliable playmaker in the back end throughout the mid-to-late 1960s.

After the 1969 season, Graham left for the Cincinnati Bengals, where he played one final year before wrapping up his career. Across his six seasons with the Chargers, he finished with 25 interceptions and five return touchdowns, production that still ranks among the better totals for a safety in franchise history.

He was later named to the AFL All-Time Second Team, recognition for the productive, ball-hawking safety who spent most of the 1960s locking down the back end for San Diego.

“The Big Cat” Ernie Ladd arrived in San Diego as a late-round find from Grambling in 1961, and at 6-foot-9 and around 290–315 pounds, he was one of the largest humans ever to play the game. Historically Black colleges weren’t heavily scouted by pro teams then, so the Chargers got a steal when they brought in the massive defensive tackle. As a rookie, he started every game at right defensive tackle, earned First-Team All-AFL honors, and helped the team reach the AFL Championship Game. He used that rare combination of size, strength, and surprising agility to clog the middle and disrupt both the run and the pass, quickly becoming a cornerstone of the early Chargers defense.

Over the next few seasons, Ladd stayed a consistent force. He was an AFL All-Star four straight years from 1962 to 1965 and earned First-Team All-AFL honors again in 1964 and 1965. In 1962 he led the team with 9.5 unofficial sacks, and in 1963 he was part of the original “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line (alongside Earl Faison and others) that helped the Chargers win the AFL Championship with a 51-10 rout of Boston. Even when injuries limited his starts in 1963, he still contributed on a unit that made four AFL title games in his five seasons. Opponents described him as almost impossible to block cleanly; one center said trying to handle him was like being locked in a closet.

After the 1965 season, Ladd signed with the Houston Oilers. He had already begun wrestling in the offseason, and the Chargers had been told he might eventually leave football for the ring full-time—which he did a couple of years later. Across his five seasons in San Diego, he had been a four-time AFL All-Star, a three-time First-Team All-AFL selection, and a key piece of the 1963 championship team.

In 1981, the Chargers inducted “The Big Cat” into their Hall of Fame, recognizing the imposing defensive tackle who had helped define the franchise’s early defensive identity before trading the gridiron for a long and successful second career in professional wrestling.