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Joe Theismann
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Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann (born September 9, 1949 in ) is a former Canadian and American football quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
smann was born to an Austrian father named Joseph John Theismann, who ran a gas station and worked in his brother’s liquor store. His mother was a Hungarian woman named Olga Tobias, who worked for Johnson & Johnson until her retirement.
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Encyclopedia
Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann (born September 9, 1949 in ) is a former Canadian and American football quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
Early life
Theismann was born to an Austrian father named Joseph John Theismann, who ran a gas station and worked in his brother’s liquor store. His mother was a Hungarian woman named Olga Tobias, who worked for Johnson & Johnson until her retirement. He was raised in South River, New Jersey and attended South River High School, where he lettered in baseball, basketball, and football.
Theismann was inducted into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1997.
College career
Theismann attended and played college football for the University of Notre Dame. He became the starter as a sophomore, after Terry Hanratty was injured late in the season. In the three remaining games in the regular season, he led the Irish to two wins and a tie. In 1969, Theismann led the Irish to a number five ranking and their first bowl appearance in 45 years, a loss to the University of Texas in the 1970 Cotton Bowl, 21-17. The next year, the Irish had a 10-1 record, a number two ranking, and won against Texas in the 1971 Cotton Bowl, 24-11. That year, Theismann was an All-American and an Academic All-America. He was the runner-up for the 1970 Heisman Trophy which went to Jim Plunkett of Stanford University. Late in the season, his hallmates in Zahm Hall hung an enormous banner out of a fourth story window proclaiming, "Theisman for Heisman", (sic) changing the original pronunciation of his surname, "THEEZ-man," to rhyme with "Heisman", which he has used since.
Theismann set school records for passing yards in a season (2,429) and touchdowns in a season (16). He also set a school record for passing yards in a game (526) and completions in a game (33) while playing against the University of Southern California in a torrential downpour in 1970, which they lost 38-28. As a starting quarterback, Theismann compiled a 20-3-2 record while throwing for 4,411 yards and 31 touchdowns. His 4,411 passing yards is fifth on Notre Dame's career passing list.
Theismann was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. He was the eighth Notre Dame quarterback enshrined into the hall, joining former Heisman Trophy winners Angelo Bertelli, John Lujack, and Paul Hornung.
Professional career
Canadian Football League
Theismann was drafted in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins in the 1971 NFL Draft, as well as Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins in the 39th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft. However, instead of playing for the Dolphins or the Twins, Theismann elected to sign with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. In his rookie year, Theismann quarterbacked the Argonauts to a 10-4 record, led the league's Eastern Conference in passing statistics and won a berth in the Grey Cup championship game in Vancouver, British Columbia versus the Calgary Stampeders (59th Grey Cup). A fumble late in the fourth quarter by Argonaut running back Leon McQuay close to the goal line cost the Argonauts the Grey Cup.
In 1971, he completed 148 of 278 passes for 2,440 yards and 17 touchdowns (with 21 interceptions.) His 1972 season was shortened by injury, but he hit 77 of 127 passes for 1,157 yards and ten touchdowns. During his last season, 1973, 157 of his 274 passes were complete, for 2,496 yards and both 13 touchdowns and interceptions. He was an all-star in both 1971 and 1973.
National Football League
In 1974, the National Football League's Washington Redskins obtained Theismann's rights. Determined to make it to the NFL, Theismann left the CFL and joined the Redskins, where he volunteered to be the team's punt returner. In 1978, Theismann became the Redskins' starting quarterback after Billy Kilmer proved ineffective.
Theismann led the Redskins to a win in Super Bowl XVII and an appearance in Super Bowl XVIII and would go on to set several Redskins franchise records, including most career passing attempts (3,602), most career passing completions (2,044) and most career passing yards (25,206), while also throwing 160 touchdown passes, with 138 interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 1,815 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was the NFL's MVP in 1983. He earned the Player of the Game Award in the second of his two Pro Bowl appearances.
In an era when most quarterbacks had long since used variations of a double-bar facemask (or even triple-bar facemasks) that afforded more protection, Theismann refused to use anything but a one-bar facemask throughout his career. So as not to obstruct his vision, he wore the shorter "snub" version of the cage which did not extend as far from his helmet as the standard one-bar.
Injury
Theismann's career ended on November 18, 1985 when he suffered a gruesome comminuted compound fracture of his leg while being sacked by New York Giants linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game telecast. The injury was voted the NFL's "Most Shocking Moment in History" by viewers in an ESPN poll, and the tackle was dubbed "The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget" by The Washington Post.
At the time, the Redskins had been attempting to run a "flea-flicker" play. The Giants' defense, however, was not fooled, and they tried to blitz Theismann. Taylor sandwiched Theismann into Carson and inadvertently landed his hip on Theismann's lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the fibula.
"It was at that point, I also found out what a magnificent machine the human body is", Theismann said. "Almost immediately, from the knee down, all the feeling was gone in my right leg. The endorphins had kicked in, and I was not in pain."
As Theismann lay on the field, a horrified Taylor frantically screamed and waved for emergency medical technicians. Initially, however, many Redskins personnel thought Taylor's screaming and pointing directed at their sidelines was a taunt over the fact that he'd successfully stopped their play. Taylor has said that his animated behavior was largely a claustrophobic reaction to having been trapped at the bottom of the pile that followed his tackle. The Monday Night Football announce team (composed of Frank Gifford, O. J. Simpson and Joe Namath) deduced from the start that Taylor was calling for help.
While initially only the players on the field could see the extent of the damage to Theismann's leg, the reverse-angle instant replay provided a clearer view of what had actually happened - Theismann's lower leg bones were broken midway between his knee and his ankle, such that his leg from his foot to his mid-shin was lying flat against the ground, and the upper part of his shin up to his knee was at a 45-degree angle as the two linebackers brought him down on the sack. The image of his lower leg bending at such an unnatural angle has become one of the most infamous football injury images ever.
The injury ultimately forced Theismann into retirement at the age of 36. Theismann has never blamed Lawrence Taylor for his injury. Taylor has said that he has never seen film of the play and never wants to. Below is Frank Gifford's commentary of the play as it unfolded:
Broadcasting career
In 1985, Theismann helped call Super Bowl XIX for ABC alongside Frank Gifford and Don Meredith. Theismann served as a color commentator on ESPN's Sunday Night Football telecasts from 1988 to 2005, and on their Monday Night Football coverage in 2006.
On March 26, 2007, ESPN announced that Ron Jaworski would replace Theismann in the Monday Night Football booth. Theismann rejected an offer to work on the network's college football coverage. He has since done a number of Washington Redskins pre-season games on CSN.
In addition to covering football, he hosted the first season of American Gladiators in 1989.
He received the Davey O'Brien Legends Award in 2009 and widely criticized the use of the spread offense during his acceptance speech.
Controversies
Ricky Williams
During a May 30, 2006, interview with Toronto radio station The Fan 590, Theismann criticized his former CFL team, the Toronto Argonauts, for signing Ricky Williams to a one-year contract. Williams, a former New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins running back, had been suspended by the NFL for the entire 2006 season for a fourth violation of the league's substance abuse policy. In the interview, Theismann said the Argonauts were a disgrace, and he was ashamed to be associated with them. He also said that Williams is sick but not a bad person. Argo ownership responded to Theismann's criticism, noting Theismann's son, Joe, pleaded guilty in 2002 to a felony charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. He received a ten-year suspended prison term, was placed on five years of probation and fined. "It's really a delicate subject for him to attack someone if he has that in his own family", Argo co-owner Cynamon said. "If I was his son and he's calling (Williams) a drug addict and he should quit and he's a loser, I'd be shattered. This thing is really bothersome." The CFL currently has no substance-abuse policy, nor did it prohibit its member teams from signing players suspended by other leagues until the RW rule went in effect for the 2007 season.
Brady Quinn
Following the 2007 NFL Draft, in which Brady Quinn fell to the 22nd overall pick, Theismann, despite being a fellow Notre Dame alumnus, lambasted him in an interview on ESPN Radio. He was bothered by the appearance of Quinn's hair, tie, and the fact he was chewing gum.
Personal
He and his first wife Shari Brown Theismann divorced in 1984. They had three children, Joe (now in Gainesville, Virginia), Amy (Florida), and Patrick (Washington, DC), all now married. Theismann was in a relationship with actor/TV host Cathy Lee Crosby for seven years. His second marriage, to former Miss Connecticut and Miss America Contestant Jeanne Caruso, ended in divorce after three years.
Theismann is now married to Robin Smith. They have homes in Leesburg, Virginia; Memphis, Tennessee; and the Florida Panhandle.
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