Jack Thompson (American football)

Jack Thompson
No. 14
Position: Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1956-05-19) May 19, 1956
Tutuila, American Samoa
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 217 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school: Seattle (WA) Evergreen
College: Washington State
NFL Draft: 1979 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Pass attempts: 845
Pass completions: 449
Percentage: 53.1
TD-INT: 33-45
Passing yards: 5,315
Passer rating: 63.4
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Jack Byron Thompson (born May 18, 1956) is a former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League for six seasons. He was known as "the Throwin' Samoan," a nickname bestowed on him by Spokesman-Review columnist Harry Missildine during Thompson's breakout sophomore season at Washington State University in 1976.

College career

As a collegian at Washington State in Pullman, Thompson set numerous school, Pac-10 and NCAA records. In the second game of 1976, he took over on offense after senior starter John Hopkins was injured making a tackle in the second quarter at Minnesota.[1]

As a senior in 1978, he finished ninth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy,[2][3] and concluded his college career as the most prolific passer in NCAA history with 7,818 passing yards.[4] Thompson set Pac-10 records for attempts, completions, and TD passes. He was all-conference three times and either first-team, second-team, or honorable mention All-American three times.

  • 1976: 208/355 for 2,762 yards with 20 TD vs 14 INT.
  • 1977: 192/329 for 2,372 yards with 13 TD vs 13 INT.
  • 1978: 175/348 for 2,333 yards with 17 TD vs 20 INT.

He is one of only two players in school history to have his number retired (with Pro Football Hall of Famer Mel Hein). Thompson wore No. 14 and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1974, south of Seattle.

NFL career

Thompson was the first quarterback selected in the 1979 NFL Draft, taken third overall by the Cincinnati Bengals,[4][5] and played there for four years, which included the Super Bowl season in 1981.

Considered by ESPN to be a bust of a draft pick (#26 worst - fellow WSU grad Ryan Leaf is considered #1),[6] Thompson went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1983 and was the starter, but was replaced the following year by Steve DeBerg.

After football

After his football career, Thompson settled in Seattle and became a mortgage banker, as well as a volunteer quarterbacks coach at Ballard High School. His son Tony, a tight end, followed in his dad's footsteps in suiting up at Washington State, and a nephew, Tavita Pritchard, was a quarterback at Stanford University.

References

  1. ↑ Missildine, Harry (September 19, 1976). "Gophers whips Cougs". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. D1.
  2. ↑ "Oklahoma's Sims Heisman winner". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. November 29, 1978. p. 18.
  3. ↑ Word, Ron (November 29, 1978). "Billy Sims". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 49.
  4. 1 2 "Ohio State linebacker goes to beef up Buffalo". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. May 4, 1979. p. 49.
  5. ↑ Bergum, Steve (May 4, 1979). "Cincinnati denies rumors; Thompson isn't trade bait". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 49.
  6. ↑ ESPN.com: "Phillips couldn't outrun off-the-field troubles: From Ryan Leaf to Michael Westbrook, ESPN.com ranks the top 50 draft busts" April 18, 2008.
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