John David Washington
Encyclopedia
John David Washington is an 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...

 running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. He was signed by the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

 as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He 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 Morehouse.

He is the son of Academy Award and Tony-winning actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

.

Early years

At the age of nine, Washington appeared as a student in a Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

 classroom in the 1992 feature film Malcolm X
Malcolm X (film)
Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical motion picture about the Muslim-American figure Malcolm X . It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as the titular character. It co-stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo...

, which starred his father Denzel Washington in the title role.

Washington attended Campbell Hall School
Campbell Hall School
Campbell Hall School is an independent, coeducational, K-12 Episcopal day school located in Studio City, California, United States. Founded in 1944 by the Reverend Alexander Campbell, Campbell Hall School is home to approximately 1,000 students from kindergarten through high school. Campbell Hall...

 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 and was a student and a letterman in football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, and track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

.

College career

At Morehouse College, Washington set a school-record with 1,198 yards with a 5.6-yard average and nine touchdowns, and added ten receptions for 69 yards his senior year. He also holds the school's single-game (242 yards) and career (3,699 yards) leading rushing records.

Washington led the conference in rushing in 2005. He was named National Player of the Week by D2Football.com in the same year.

St. Louis Rams

After going undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft
2006 NFL Draft
The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offered by ESPNU and, for the first time, by...

, Washington was signed by the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

 on May 1, 2006 as an undrafted free agent. Washington was released by the Rams on September 1, but later re-signed to their practice squad for the 2006 NFL season
2006 NFL season
The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...

.

Washington played in NFL Europa for the Rhein Fire
Rhein Fire
The Rhein Fire was a professional American football team in NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Germany in 1995, the franchise resurrected the name of the former Birmingham Fire team which was active during the 1991-1992 WLAF seasons.-History:The team was...

 in the 2007 offseason. He was released by the Rams on August 31. Three days later, the Rams re-signed him to their practice squad.

California Redwoods

Washington was drafted by the California Redwoods of the United Football League in the UFL Premiere Season Draft
UFL Premiere Season Draft
The UFL "Premiere" Season Draft was the inaugural draft of the United Football League. The results of the draft were announced via press release on June 19, 2009....

in 2009. He signed with the team on August 18.

External links

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