John "the Bull" Bramlett (born July 7, 1941 in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

) 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...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 who played from 1965 to 1971

1971 NFL season

The 1971 NFL season was the 52nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl VI when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins...

 on four teams, the Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

, the Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and the Boston Patriots in the American Football League

American Football League

The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...

 and the Patriots and 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...

 in the National Football League

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...

 . He was a two time AFL All-Star

American Football League All-Star games

-All-League Teams:The Sporting News published American Football League All-League Teams for each season played by the American Football League, 1960 through 1969...

. Bramlett is currently a minister.

Bramlett was an All-State and All-American at Humes High School

Humes High School

L. C. Humes High School, better known as simply Humes High School, was a high school located in Memphis, Tennessee. It was open from the 1930s through 1967 as a high school and is most remembered as Elvis Presley's high school. Elvis graduated from Humes on June 3, 1953...

 in Memphis and played college football at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis

University of Memphis

The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....

), where he was named an honorable mention All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n his senior year. Bramlett signed a professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

 but was kicked out of baseball after a few years after getting into trouble. Bramlett then signed a contract with the Denver Broncos and was named runner-up AFL Rookie of the year behind Joe Namath

Joe Namath

Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...

 in 1965.

Bramlett only lasted two seasons with the Broncos, making one appearance in the Pro Bowl before being traded to the Miami Dolphins for a fourth round pick in the 1968 NFL Draft

1968 NFL Draft

The 1968 National Football League Draft was part of the Common Draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players on January 30–31.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...

. He played two seasons with Miami, making another Pro Bowl appearance, before being traded to the Patriots along with 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...

 Kim Hammond

Kim Hammond

Kim Crane Hammond is a Judge in Flagler County, Florida and was an outstanding quarterback for Florida State University...

 in exchange for Nick Buoniconti

Nick Buoniconti

Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti is a former American Football League and NFL Hall of Fame middle linebacker, who played for the Boston Patriots and Miami Dolphins....

 in 1969.

With the Patriots, Bramlett was named the Most Valuable Player for the team in 1970 but also got in more trouble and was nicknamed the "Meanest Man in Football." . Bramlett was then released and played one more season with the Atlanta Falcons before retiring.

Bramlett is a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Post-football career

In 1973, Bramlett became a Christian and abandoned his wild lifestyle. He has been active in Christian ministry for many years. He now resides in Memphis, TN with his wife, Nancy. He has two sons, Don and Andy. He has four grandchildren, Rebecca, Rachel, Hunter, and Jordan. His ministry is John Bramlett Ministries.

Larry Csonka

Larry Csonka

Larry Richard Csonka is a former collegiate and professional American football fullback.-Childhood:One of six children, Csonka was born in Stow, Ohio where he was raised on a farm by his Hungarian family...

 and Jim Kiick

Jim Kiick

James Forrest Kiick is a former professional American football running back, who is best known for playing halfback for the Miami Dolphins in the American Football League from 1968 to 1969 and in the National Football League from 1970 through 1974...

, who were rookies on the Dolphins in 1968, tell several amusing stories about Bramlett in their book Always on the Run.

Bramlett has also written his own autobiography called Taming the Bull: The John "Bull" Bramlett Story (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989).

External links

• http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/BramJo00.htm
• http://www.bramlett.org/