Joe Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Joseph Carlton Ferguson, Jr. (born April 23, 1950 in Alvin
Alvin, Texas
Alvin is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area and Brazoria County. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 21,413. Alvin's claim to fame is Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who moved with his family to the city in 1947 as...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

) is a former American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 in the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. Ferguson played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at the University of Arkansas
Arkansas Razorbacks
The Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the names of college sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The term Arkansas Razorbacks properly applies to any of the sports teams at the university. The Razorbacks take their name from the feral pig of the same name...

, where he still holds the school's single game record for most completions (31 against Texas A&M
Texas A&M Aggies football
The Texas A&M Aggies football team represents Texas A&M University in college football. The Aggies have competed in the Big 12 Conference since the conference's inception in 1996. They will join the Southeastern Conference in July 2012. Texas A&M football has earned one national title and 18...

 in 1971) and in that same season was named the Southwest Conference
Southwest Athletic Conference
The Southwest Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1914 to 1996. It consisted of schools mostly in the state of Texas and one in Arkansas, with historical members in Oklahoma....

's Offensive Player of the Year.

The Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 selected Ferguson in the third round of the 1973 NFL Draft
1973 NFL Draft
The 1973 National Football League Draft was held on January 30–31, 1973.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:-Round five:-Round six:-Round seven:-Round eight:-Round nine:-Round ten:...

. Although he is most famous for playing with the Bills from 1973 to 1984, Ferguson also played three seasons for the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

 and two seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 and one final season with the Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....

.

Ferguson placed in the top 10 in pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...

 attempts five times, completions and passing yards four times, passing touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s six times, and yard
Yard
A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...

s per pass three times. At one time he shared, with Ron Jaworski
Ron Jaworski
Ronald Vincent "Ron" Jaworski is a former American football quarterback and currently an NFL analyst on ESPN. He is also CEO of Ron Jaworski Golf Management, Inc., based out of Blackwood, New Jersey, and manages golf courses in southern New Jersey, northeast Pennsylvania, and West Virginia...

, the NFL record for consecutive starts by a quarterback
Most consecutive starts by a quarterback (NFL)
This is a list of the most consecutive starts by a quarterback in the NFL. Only six quarterbacks in NFL history have been able to achieve regular season streaks of at least 100 games, with only two of those with a regular season streak of at least 200 games....

 with 107, until he was replaced by Joe Dufek
Joe Dufek
Joseph Edward Dufek is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. He was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 1983...

 on September 30, 1984. He has a 1-3 record in the NFL postseason, winning against the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in 1981. His three losses came from the Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

 in those same playoffs, the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 the year before in 1980
1980 NFL season
The 1980 NFL season was the 61st regular season of the National Football League.After the league declined to approve the proposed move by the Raiders from Oakland, California to Los Angeles, the team along with the Los Angeles Coliseum sued the NFL for violating antitrust laws...

, playing the entire game against the Chargers with a sprained ankle, and in 1974 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He retired after the 1990 season after playing only one game with the Colts.

Ferguson's best season came in the 1975
1975 NFL season
The 1975 NFL season was the 56th regular season of the National Football League. It was also the first time that featured an entire season with no games ending in a tie. The league made two significant changes to increase the appeal of the game:...

 campaign, when he tied Fran Tarkenton
Fran Tarkenton
Francis Asbury "Fran" Tarkenton is a former professional football player, TV personality, and computer software executive....

 for the NFL lead with 25 touchdown passes and compiled a passer rating of 81.3. Ferguson also surpassed 20 touchdown passes on three other occasions (1980
1980 NFL season
The 1980 NFL season was the 61st regular season of the National Football League.After the league declined to approve the proposed move by the Raiders from Oakland, California to Los Angeles, the team along with the Los Angeles Coliseum sued the NFL for violating antitrust laws...

, 1981
1981 NFL season
The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals.-Major rule changes:...

 & 1983
1983 NFL season
The 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins.-Major rule changes:...

).

Ferguson is one of few quarterbacks who started immediately as a rookie, and his team won four of his first six starts. He is one of only two rookie quarterbacks to accomplish this feat, being joined by the Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

' Matt Ryan
Matt Ryan (American football)
Matthew Thomas "Matt" Ryan , nicknamed "Matty Ice," is the starting American football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League. He was drafted in the first round as the third overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft...

 in 2008.

In 1993, Ferguson was inducted into the Bills' Wall of Fame. Seven years earlier, he had been inducted in the National Federation of State High Schools Association's Hall of Fame in 1986 for his outstanding play at the high school level. The number 12 has been retired by the Bills in honor of both Ferguson and Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly
James Edward Kelly is a former American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the USFL's Houston Gamblers....

. He is also in the Arkansas and Louisiana halls of fame. He returned to football in 1995 when, at the age of 45, he signed a contract with the San Antonio Texans
San Antonio Texans
The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners...

 of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

. He retired at the end of the year to become the quarterbacks coach at the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...

. He later coached at Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...

, Ruston High School
Ruston High School
Ruston High School is a 4 year public high school located in the Lincoln Parish School District of Ruston, Louisiana, United States. The school has an enrollment of approximately 1200 students with 85 faculty members; the mascot is the bearcat. The school colors are red and white. Black students...

, and Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, as head coach. He has since returned to Arkansas and is in the commercial/residential real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 business.

In May 2005, Ferguson was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma
Burkitt's lymphoma
Burkitt's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system...

 cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 and underwent treatment at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is one of the nation's original three comprehensive cancer centers established by the National Cancer Act of 1971. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located at the Texas Medical Center in...

 in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, Texas.

In January 2008, Ferguson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia , also known as acute myelogenous leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal white blood cells that accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells. AML is the most common acute...

. In February 2008, he was treated at M.D. Anderson in the intensive care unit
Intensive Care Unit
thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...

 for pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

.

In July 2009, it was reported that Ferguson had recovered from his battles with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

Ferguson is a brother-in-law of Joe Raymond Peace
Joe Raymond Peace
Joseph Raymond Peace, Jr. is the former Louisiana Tech University head football coach of eight seasons from 1988-1995. He ushered the Tech football program into NCAA Division I-A football in 1989.Peace is an alumnus of Louisiana Tech...

, former Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...

 head football coach, who is married to Ferguson's sister, Carolyn. He is an uncle of former University of Tennessee Volunteers player Robert Joseph Peace, a son of Joe and Carolyn Peace.

http://www.buffalosave.org Joe Ferguson is an Honorary Board Member for S.A.V.E. (Students Against Violence Education)
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