Board of Directors

Bruce Laird
President/Chairman of Fourth and Goal Board of Directors

Between 1974 and 1981, Laird started 114 of the Baltimore Colts’ 118 regular season games. On May 26, 1982 he became a member of the San Diego Chargers where he suffered a broken navicular bone in his wrist in the Chargers third pre-season game versus San Francisco….earned all-AFC honors from Pro Football Weekly and New York Daily News and an all-pro honors from Sports Illustrated in 1980…also named as alternate on AFC Pro Bowl squad that year, lone career touchdown was on a 61-yard interception return against Oakland in 1977 AFC Divisional Playoffs… earned Pro Bowl berth in 1972 as AFC’s kickoff returned with 29 returns for 843 yards, 29.1-yard average, during rookie season.. chosen by Colts in sixth round of 1972 draft and 152nd player overall.

Born Bruce Allan Laird May 23, 1950, in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was four-sport star for the Scituate High Sailors…attended American International College in Springfield, Mass., earning college division all-American honors his junior and senior years…played in North-South game as running back…earned all-New England honors at both positions as senior in 1972 …received degree in history and political science…past spokesman for United Way and Save-a-Heart Foundation.  Bruce currently lives in Towson, Maryland with his wife, Mary Ford Laird.  He has three sons, Matthew, Michael and Christopher.

He is senior marketing executive for Multi-Specialty Healthcare, a clinically based skeletal/ muscular Medical Provider, operating in 5 counties and Baltimore City.  He is spokesman for Cystic Fibrosis, Leukemia/Lymphoma and President of the Baltimore Chapter of NFLRPA and President of the Baltimore Football Club, Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for the needs of retired NFL players from the 1950’s to the present.  The Baltimore Football Club has a marketing arm known as Fourth and Goal, which has a national presence and includes over 2.000 retired NFL players.

Harry Carson
Fourth and Goal -National Advocacy Committee

Harry Carson’s 13-year stint with the New York Football Giants is one of the longest tenures in club history. The indestructible former linebacker served as Team Captain for 10 of his 13 seasons including the 1986 season when the Giants defeated the Denver Broncos 39-20 in Super Bowl XXI. Rated the #1 “Inside Linebacker” in NFL history according to Pro Football Weekly, Carson was named to the All-Rookie Team after his first NFL season. Subsequently, during his NFL career, he was named to the All-NFL Team 7 times, the All-NFC Team 8 times, and NFC Linebacker of the Year twice. He once made an amazing 25 tackles in a Monday Night Football Game against the Green Bay Packers. With performances like that he was selected by his peers to play in the NFC-AFC Pro Bowl 9 times and is among the top 250 players to ever play in the National Football League.

Carson set the pace for his remarkable career while a student at Wilson Senior High and McClenaghan High Schools in Florence, South Carolina. There he served as Senior Class President, Co-Chairman of the school’s Bi-Racial Committee and ROTC Commander. He went on to South Carolina State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education. The two-time Captain never missed a game during his four seasons as a defensive lineman for the Bulldogs, of which he had 114 tackles and 17 quarterback sacks in his senior year alone. During his college football career, Harry received honors for the Kodak All-American Football Team, NAIA All-American Team, Pittsburgh Courier All-American Team, All-State (South Carolina), All Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and MEAC Defensive Player of the Year twice. He excelled off the field academically as well, winning awards for the highest academic average amongst Black College All-Americans. READ MORE ON HARRY CARSON

Joe DeLamielleure
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

Joe DeLamielleure was an All-American at Michigan State. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft. He won All-Rookie Honors, after finding out a physical condition with his irregular heartbeat was not serious. In 1973 the Buffalo Bills rushing offense led the NFL in yards, yards per carry, as well as rushing touchdowns.

DeLamielleure was perhaps the central figure in the “Electric Company,” the Bills’ offensive line that paved the way for O.J. Simpson to rush for 2,003 yards in 1973, the first player ever to break that barrier, and the only player ever to do so in a 14-game schedule. The league leading rushing yardage mark of 3088 yards is still the 14-game record.

The following year, 1974, the Bills improved to 9-5 and made the playoffs. DeLamielleure was voted second-team All-Pro. In 1975 the Bills displayed one of most potent offenses of the decade. They led NFL in eleven categories, including total offense, rushing, rushing average, points, touchdowns and touchdown passes en route to an 8-6 record. The offensive line also allowed the fewest sacks in AFC.  .

Six times he was named All-Pro and was named to the Pro Bowl six times. In 1975 he was named by the NFLPA as Offensive Lineman of the Year. In 1973 he was Co-Offensive Linemen of the Year as awarded by the 1000 Yard Rusher Club, Columbus, Ohio. In 1977 Joe received Forrest Gregg Award as NFL’s Top Offensive Lineman.

In 1980 DeLamielleure was traded to the Cleveland Browns where he blocks for his 2nd NFL MVP, Brian Sipe. DeLamielleure became the first player ever to block for a 2,000 yard rusher and a 4,000 yard passer. The 1980 Browns offensive line led the NFL in allowing the lowest sack percentage and blocked for a 1000 yard runner (Mike Pruitt). During his five years with Cleveland, he played in every game. In 1979 he was named the NFL’s All-Decade Team. He played his final year in the NFL, 1985, back with the Buffalo Bills.

DeLamielleure was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and was inducted to the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame in 2007.

Sam Huff
Fourth and Goal -National Advocacy Committee

Sam was drafted in the third round of the 1956 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. In training camp, head coach Jim Lee Howell was having a hard time coming up with a position for Huff. Discouraged, Huff left camp but was stopped at the airport by assistant coach Vince Lombardi, who coaxed him back to camp.

Then, defensive coordinator Tom Landry came up with the new 4-3 defensive scheme that he thought would fit Huff perfectly. The Giants switched him from the line to middle linebacker behind Ray Beck. Huff liked the position because he could keep his head up and use his superb peripheral vision to see the whole field. On October 7, 1956 in a game against the Chicago Cardinals, Beck was injured and Huff was put into his first professional game. He then helped the Giants win five consecutive games and they finished with an 8–3–1 record, which gave them the Eastern Conference title. New York went on to win the 1956 NFL Championship Game and Huff became the first rookie middle linebacker to start an NFL championship game.

In 1958, the Giants again won the East and Huff played in the 1958 NFL Championship Game. The championship, which became widely known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, was the first ever National Football League (NFL) game to go into sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17.

In 1959, Huff and the Giants again went to the NFL Championship Game, which ended in a 31–16 loss to the Colts. Also that year, Huff became the first NFL player to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine on November 30, 1959. He almost passed up the magazine appearance, demanding money to be interviewed, but relented when Time agreed to give him the cover portrait. Huff was also the subject of an October 31, 1960 CBS special, “The Violent World of Sam Huff”.broadcast as an episode of the Walter Cronkite anthology series The Twentieth Century. The network wired Huff for sound in practice and in an exhibition game.

The Giants played in the championship game under new coach Allie Sherman in 1961, 1962, 1963, but lost every one of them.

Huff played in four consecutive Pro Bowls with the Giants from 1959 through 1963. He was named most valuable player of the 1961 Pro Bowl.

Huff was traded to the Redskins in 1964 and they agreed to pay him $30,000 in salary and $5,000 for scouting, compared to the $19,000 he would have made another year with New York. The impact Huff had, was almost immediate and the Redskins’ defense was ranked second in the NFL in 1965.

On November 27, 1966, Huff and the Redskins beat his former Giant teammates 72–41, in the highest-scoring game in league history. After an ankle injury in 1967 ended his streak of 150 straight games played. Huff retired in 1968.

Vince Lombardi talked Huff out of retirement in 1969 when he was named Washington’s head coach. The Redskins went 7-5-2 and had their best season since 1955 (which kept Lombardi’s record of never having coached a losing NFL team intact). Huff then retired for good after 14 seasons and 30 career interceptions. He spent one season coaching the Redskins’ linebackers in 1970.

Huff invested $75,000 with ESPN to showcase the West Virginia Breeders Classic horse race from Charles Town, West Virginia. The event has now run for over 20 years and has paid for Huff’s original investment several times over.

Huff joined the Marriott Corporation as a salesman in 1971 and worked himself up to vice president of sports marketing before retiring in 1998. He owns a 5 percent stake in the Marriott Hotel in Charleston, West Virginia. It remains the only Marriott in the state.

After retiring from football, Huff spent one season as a color commentator for the Giants radio team and then moved on to the same capacity for the Washington Redskins radio network, where he remains to this day, calling games alongside former Redskins teammate Sonny Jurgensen and play-by-play announcer Larry Michaels. He was also a broadcaster for a regionally syndicated TV package of Mountaineer football games in the mid-1980s.

In 1982, Huff became just the second WVU player to be inducted into both the College and Pro football Halls of Fame. In 1988, he was inducted into the WVU School of Physical Education Hall of Fame and, in 1991 he was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1999, Huff was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame and was ranked number 76 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

In 2001, Huff was ranked number six on Sports Illustrated’s list of West Virginia’s 50 Greatest Athletes. On November 24, 2005, Huff’s uniform number 75 was retired by West Virginia University.

In 1986 Huff began breeding Thoroughbred racehorses at Sporting Life Farm in Middleburg, Virginia. His filly, Bursting Forth, won the 1998 Matchmaker Handicap. He is currently the Co-President of Golden Dreams Riding center in Middleburg, Virginia.

Huff is divorced from Mary Helen Fletcher. They have three children, Robert Lee (“Sam”) Huff Jr., Catherine Ann, J.D. and three grandchildren Nicholas, Mary Carmen and Robert Lee (“Bobby”) Huff III.

John Hogan
Fourth and Goal -National Advocacy Committee

Since 1984, he has successfully represented thousands of clients seeking disability benefits. Admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1978, John V. Hogan is based in suburban Atlanta, but has represented disability claimants from New York to California. He has also represented social security claimants throughout the United States from New York to California, often upon the referral of major LTD carriers.

John has for several years been an advocate for disability and pension change for the retired NFL player and has represented former players in their disability efforts. http://www.johnvhogan.com

Jack Thompson
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee
NFL Alumni Board of Directors

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. He was a first-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1979 and played for Cincinnati from 1979-82.

Thompson went to college at Washington State University, where he set numerous school, Pac-10 and NCAA records. He finished ninth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1978. His prowess led the Bengals to make him the third overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft.

He concluded his college career in 1978 as the most prolific passer in NCAA history, throwing for 7,818 yards. He 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. He is one of only two players in WSU history to have his number retired (the other is Pro Football Hall of Famer Mel Hein). Thompson wore No. 14. In 1979, Cougfan.com named him one of the three most influential players in Washington State football history. He attended Evergreen High School in Seattle.

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, is a quarterback at Stanford University.

Darryl Johnston
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

After a stellar career at Syracuse University, Johnston was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 1989 draft where he quickly made his mark lead blocking for NFL leading rusher Emmitt Smith. Daryl’s ability to catch passes out of the backfield along with his blocking prowess made him one of the best fullbacks to have ever played the game. As testament to his receiving abilities, his 294 career receptions outnumber 232 career rushing attempts, a fact no other fullback can claim. In 1993 alone, he accumulated 50 receptions and amassed a 7.4 yards per catch average.

As a member of the Cowboys from 1989 to 1999, Johnston was a member of 3 Super Bowl winning teams and is considered to be the reason the NFL added the fullback position to Pro Bowl rosters. In 1993, Johnston became the first fullback to be selected to the Pro Bowl. A year later he made his second appearance in the all-star game.

Daryl’s NFL career ended in 1999 after sustaining a neck injury. Having already cut his teeth in the broadcasting booth Johnston quickly made the move to television once his playing days were over. Now a member of FOX’s #2 Broadcast Team alongside Kenny Albert, Johnston is considered to be one of the most knowledgeable game analysts on television.

A native of Youngstown, New York; Daryl and wife Diane now reside in Dallas, Texas with their son Aidan and daughter Evan.

In addition to being an advocate for retired NFL players, Darryl’s contributions to his community include Special Olympics, Children’s Cancer Fund, Cystic Fibrosis and Literacy Instruction For Texas (LIFT). His contributions to society were recognized in 1999 when he was the recipient of the prestigious “Whizzer White Humanitarian Award” given to a current NFL player who best serves his team, community and country. He has also served as honorary chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s “Aisles of Smiles” campaign and the American Cancer Society’s “Gunslingers Ball.”

Jerry Kramer
National Advocacy Committee

Kramer was the 39th player selected in the 1958 NFL Draft, taken in the fourth round by the Green Bay Packers. The first four rounds of the draft were held on December 2, 1957. Two Hall-of-Famers for the Packers were taken in this draft: fullback Jim Taylor of LSU, in the second round (15th overall), and linebacker Ray Nitschke of Illinois in the third round (36th overall). Kramer played every game in his rookie season of 1958, but the Packers finished with the worst record (1-10-1) in the 12-team league. In January 1959, the Packers hired a new head coach, Vince Lombardi, the offensive coach of the New York Giants (the current title of ‘offensive coordinator’ was not created until years later). Lombardi’s playing position in college was the same as Kramer’s, never an easy situation for any player, but especially challenging when the coach was as disciplined and demanding of perfection as Lombardi.

With Kramer playing solidly at right guard, the Packers would win five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls. Kramer also served as the team’s place kicker in 1962, 1963, and part of 1968. As a kicker, he kicked 29 field goals, 90 extra points, for a total of 177 points. He also kicked 3 field goals and 1 extra point in the Packers 16-7 victory over the New York Giants in the 1962 NFL title game. In college, he was also a kicker, with Wayne Walker as his long snapper. Walker was also a placekicker for the Detroit Lions midway through his career.

During his career, Kramer was often injured. Among these were surgery to remove sizable wood fragments embedded in his abdomen from a teenage accident, and a badly injured ankle suffered in 1961. In all, Kramer played in 129 regular season games; he also had 22 surgeries in 11 seasons, including a colostomy, which he described as “a horror movie that hasn’t been made yet.” Despite these setbacks, Kramer was selected as an All-Pro five times (1960, 1962, 1963, 1966, and 1967). He was the only guard selected for the NFL’s 50th Anniversary All-Time team, and the only member of that team not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In his penultimate season of 1967, Kramer collaborated with Dick Schaap on his best-selling first book, Instant Replay, a diary of the season which highlighted the heretofore obscure work of an offensive lineman. It climaxed with Kramer’s lead block in front of Bart Starr to win the legendary “Ice Bowl” championship game. Kramer and Schaap would write two more books together. Kramer played one more year, under new head coach Phil Bengston in 1968. After that season, which saw the aging Packers fall to a losing record of 6-7-1, he published a sequel book, Farewell to Football. After retiring, Kramer briefly worked as a color commentator on CBS NFL telecasts.

In 1985, Kramer wrote Distant Replay, which updated the whereabouts of the members of the Packers’ Super Bowl I championship team following a team reunion at Lambeau Field during the 1984 season.

Jerry Kramer is now living in Eagle, near Boise in southwestern Idaho. In October 2005, he released Inside the Locker Room a CD set that includes Vince Lombardi’s final locker room address as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, immediately after Super Bowl II. In September 2006, Kramer re-released his 1968 best seller, Instant Replay.

Kramer has 6 children and 4 grandchildren. His youngest sons Matt and Jordan also played college football at Idaho. Jordan, named in memory of Hall of Fame defensive tackle Henry Jordan, played several seasons in the NFL as a linebacker, initially with the Tennessee Titans in 2003, moving to the Atlanta Falcons in 2005.

 

 

 

Jeff Nixon
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

 

Born in Germany, Nixon spent his high school days in Virginia, attending Gar-Field Senior High School. He played college football at the University of Richmond from 1975-1978, where he was an All-American during his last three years. Jeff recorded 23 interceptions and is currently 7th All-Time in NCAA Division I history. He played for the Bills from 1979-1984 until a career-ending knee injury. Jeff led the team with 6 interceptions in his rookie year. In 1980 he was Sports Illustrated Defensive Player of the Month for September. Jeff set a club record with 4 takeaways in one game (3 interceptions 1 fumble recovery) vs the Miami Dolphins in 1980 to help the Bills snap a 20 game losing streak against Miami.

During the Buffalo Bills football season, Jeff is a sports analyst on WKBW-TV’s AM Buffalo. Jeff also hosts an internet radio show “The Jeff Nixon Sports Report” that airs every Monday night on VoiceAmerica and he is the host of the blog “NFL Retired Players United”. He currently works as the Youth Employment Director for the City of Buffalo.

Jeff was voted the Buffalo Nightlife Magazine 2006, 2007 and 2008 R&B guitar player of the year.

Jeff is married to Joyce Wilson Nixon and together they have 5 children (Jena Nixon, Jeff Nixon, Charles Wilson, Damien Wilson, Libran Wilson).

Sam Havrilak

Fourth & Goal Board Member, Treasurer

 

 

Sam was born December 13, 1947 in Monessen, Pennsylvania and played in the NFL from 1969 to 1974. He attended Monessen High School near Pittsburgh.

Sam played college football at Bucknell University where he was named to the All-Pennsylvania Team and MVP of the Middle Atlantic Conference as a senior. Havrilak holds the Bucknell University record for total offense with 397 yards against Colgate in 1968. He was elected to the Bucknell Hall of Fame, Class of 1981.

Sam’s NFL career was spent with both the Baltimore Colts (1969-1973) and the New Orleans Saints. In 1971 he earned a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Colts. The (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts (11–2–1) defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys (10–4), 16–13, in the first Super Bowl game played on artificial turf. Sam owns the distinction of being the first player in NFL history to complete a pass, catch a pass and take a handoff in a Super Bowl. In 1972, Sam had one of his best years as a pro, catching 4 touchdown passes and rushing for 2 more.

Sam Havrilak’s locker was next to Johnny Unitas’ for four years.  He says the most impressive thing about Unitas was “his kindness.” “Whenever our families would go out to dinner together, or whenever we were on the golf course, people would ask John for autographs,” Havrilak said. “He never once said no.”

Sam is currently a dentist who practices and resides in Baltimore County, Maryland. Sam and his wife Terry have one son, Michael. Sam is an uncle of Maryland State Delegate Eric Bromwell.

Mercury Morris
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

Eugene “Mercury” Morris was born January 5, 1947.  He got his nickname early on for his mercurial quickness when running with the ball. Morris was a running back and kick returner for 9 years, playing mostly for the Miami Dolphins (at first, in the American Football League, then, in the American Football Conference following the 1969 merger with the NFL).

Morris played in three Super Bowls and was selected to three Pro Bowls.

Mercury was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Avonworth High School in the northwestern part of the city. Morris attended West Texas State University (now known as West Texas A&M University) from 1965 to 1969, where he was an All-American at tailback in 1967 and 1968. In 1967, he finished 2nd in the nation to O.J. Simpson in rushing yards with 1274. In his stellar year of 1968, he set collegiate records for rushing yards in a single game, with 340, rushing yards for a single season, with 1,571, and rushing yards over a 3 year college career (freshmen being ineligible), with 3,388.

However, O.J. Simpson broke the single-season rushing just the week after Morris set it. And, the three-season career rushing record was broken 2 years later by Don McCauley.

After college, Morris was picked in the third round of the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft by the AFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Morris excelled as both a running back and kick returner. The majority of his playing days were spent with the Miami Dolphins. From 1969 to 1971, he backed up Jim Kiick at halfback and served as the Dolphins’ primary kickoff return man. In his rookie year of 1969, Morris had averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, leading the AFL in kickoff returns with 43 and in kickoff return yardage with 1136. Both totals would have also led the NFL. His 105-yard return was the longest in the AFL that season, and he was also one of the AFL’s leading punt returners that year. In 1970, he missed some time to a leg injury, but his 6.8 yard per carry average on 60 runs was the highest in the league among players with at least 50 runs.

In 1971, despite being unhappy with his minimal playing time as backup halfback, he helped the Dolphins to their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl VI by leading the American Football Conference (AFC) with a 28.2 yard kickoff return average. During the regular season, Morris also made the most of his opportunities at running back, gaining 315 rushing yards on 57 carries for a 5.5 yard average, an average that would have led the NFL had he enough carries to qualify. That season, Morris was selected for the Pro Bowl for the first time as a kick returner, although he also was used as a running back in the game.

In the 1972 and 1973 seasons, Morris earned Super Bowl rings in Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII, and was selected for the Pro Bowl in both years. In 1972, Morris shared the halfback position with Kiick, participating in a few less plays than Kiick, but having more carries as a running back. That year, he ran for exactly 1,000 yards on 190 carries, becoming, with teammate Larry Csonka, the first 1,000-yard tandem in NFL history. Morris was first thought to have finished with 991 yards, but the Dolphins’ management asked the league to examine a play in which Morris fumbled a lateral: Morris was awarded the nine yards previously recorded as lost on the play, giving him 1,000 yards for the season. That year, Morris also led the NFL with 12 rushing touchdowns, and his 5.3 yard per carry average was 3rd in the NFL.

By 1973, Morris had taken over the starting halfback spot and rushed for 954 yards on 149 carries, despite playing with a neck injury late in the season. His 6.4 yard per carry average led the NFL that season, and he finished 3rd in the NFL in rushing touchdowns.

Although Morris’ Super Bowl statistics pale in comparison with teammate Larry Csonka, he excelled in several playoff games leading up to Miami’s two Super Bowl championships. In 1972 he lead the Dolphins in rushing in both the divisional playoff game against Cleveland and the AFC Championship Game against Pittsburgh with 72 yards and 76 yards respectively. In 1973, he led the Dolphins in rushing for the divisional playoff game against Cincinnati with 106 yards, and added 86 more rushing yards in the AFC Championship Game against Oakland.

Morris continued playing for the Dolphins in 1974 and 1975, before spending the last season of his shortened career playing for the San Diego Chargers in 1976. In 1974, he was limited to playing just 5 games due to a knee injury suffered in a pre-season exhibition game. In 1975 he led the Dolphins in rushing yards with 875 despite sharing the halfback position with Benny Malone. After being traded to San Diego before the 1976 season, he ran for 256 yards on only 50 carries that year and decided to retire after the season, in part due to lingering difficulties from the neck injury suffered in 1973.

Mercury finished in the top five of the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice and total touchdowns once during his nine-year career. His career 5.1 yard per carry average is 3rd all time among NFL players (2nd among running backs and 1st among halfbacks) with at least 750 rushing attempts, behind quarterback Randall Cunningham and fullback Jim Brown. His career kickoff return average of 26.5 is among the all-time top 10 for players with at least 100 returns.

In 1974, Morris co-starred as Bookie Garrett in the blaxploitation film The Black Six alongside other football stars of the day.

In 1982, Morris was convicted of cocaine trafficking. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, with a mandatory fifteen-year term. On March 6, 1986, his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court because evidence Morris had offered to prove his entrapment defense had been excluded under a mistaken characterization as hearsay. Morris was granted a new trial. He was able to reach a plea bargain with the prosecutor, resulting in his release from prison May 23, 1986, after having served three years. He later went on to a career as a motivational speaker. Towards the end of 2006, he was in a television commercial spot for a hair-treatment clinic, along with Wade Boggs.

Charlie Waters
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

Charlie Waters was born on September 10, 1948 in Miami, Florida. He played safety for the Dallas Cowboys from 1970-1981 in the National Football League. He spent one season (2006) as a radio broadcaster for the Dallas Cowboys radio network.

He was a good enough quarterback at North Augusta High School, that he made the 1965 Shrine Bowl, even though he had been a wide receiver earlier in his career.

Waters signed a football scholarship at Clemson University and by the spring of 1968 as a junior, he was competing with Billy Ammons for the starting quarterback job. When Ammons hurt his knee in spring practice, Waters won the position. A three-year letterman from 1967-69, Waters was an All-ACC selection in 1969 at wide receiver as a senior. During his Clemson career, he caught 68 passes for 1,196 yards and 17.1 yards per catch, to go along with four touchdown receptions. He still ranks eighth all-time for yards per reception and eighteenth all-time in receiving yards.

Waters was inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame in 1981.

He also was inducted into the North Augusta and South Carolina halls of fame.

He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 1970 NFL Draft.

Although he nearly was released during training camp, Waters was converted to defensive back and started his rookie year as a backup to Cliff Harris at free safety. He ended up starting 6 games after Harris had to serve military duty. Waters had 5 interceptions that season, as the Cowboys would go on to lose Super Bowl V. His performance was good enough to make the NFL all-rookie team as a free safety in 1970.

The next year he was moved to cornerback, where he struggled for four years in a backup role.

Waters was moved to Strong Safety in 1975 to replace Cowboys great Cornell Green. He responded with 3 interceptions for 55 yards and a touchdown. That season, Cowboys would end up reaching Super Bowl X before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As a strong safety he became an All-Pro and along with Cliff Harris, formed one of the most feared safety tandems of that era.

He was like a coach on the field, with excellent instincts and the athletic ability, to become one of the league’s top defensive players of the decade. His courage and knowledge of the game earned him the respect of both opponents and teammates.

Waters made his first All-Pro team in 1976 with 3 interceptions. He returned to the Pro Bowl the next year after getting 3 more interceptions, as the Cowboys would end up winning Super Bowl XII.

1978 was the last year Waters would go to the Pro Bowl. He had a safety and 4 interceptions. That year the Cowboys would end up losing Super Bowl XIII.

He was selected All-Pro twice (1977 and 1978) and to the Pro Bowl three consecutive seasons (1976-1978).

Waters injured his knee before the start of the 1979 season, and would sit out the entire year. He returned in 1980 and had 5 interceptions. After getting 3 interceptions in 1981, he retired with 50 interceptions, the second-most in franchise history.

Waters played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Cowboys, never experienced a losing season and only missed the playoffs one time during that span. He played in five Super Bowls: V, VI, X, XII, and XIII, with victories in VI and XII.

He holds the NFL records for most playoff interceptions with 9 and the most single-game playoff interceptions with 3 (actually Vernon Perry of the Houston Oilers owns that record with 4 interceptions in a playoff game.)

He also has the unique achievement of blocking 4 punts in 2 consecutive games.

To this day, he is one of the most revered and respected players in Dallas Cowboys history.

After retirement

After two losses in NFC championship games against the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, Waters retired and became an NFL and college football coach. He was the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in 1989 and then for the Oregon Ducks. Waters then went into a gas and electric business with his former teammate Cliff Harris.

He was nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001, but was not elected.

In 2006, the Dallas Cowboys hired Waters as the new color commentator for the Cowboys Radio Network, working alongside Brad Sham when former color commentator and Dallas quarterback Babe Laufenberg resigned his post to spend time with his family. Outside of football, he works with longtime teammate Cliff Harris at an electricity marketing company. In February 2007, Waters announced that he would be leaving the radio booth after only one season, citing a busy work schedule that did not allow him enough time to prepare for the game broadcasts.

Jim Mutscheller
Fourth and Goal – Member Board of Directors

Jim Mutscheller was born on March 31, 1930 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He played tight end for nine seasons for the Baltimore Colts. Mutscheller played football, basketball, and baseball at Beaver Falls High School, and three seasons of varsity football at Notre Dame under coach Frank Leahy from 1949 to 1951, including on the 1949 national championship team.

Mutscheller played both defensive end and offense for the Fighting Irish, and served as team captain his senior year.

The New York Yanks drafted Mutscheller, but by the time Bucky’s two-year stint in the Marines ended, the Baltimore Colts had bought his contract. Mutscheller played for the Colts from 1954 to 1961, amassing 220 catches, 3,685 yards and 40 touchdowns.

In 1959, when most NFL tight ends were more brawn than hands, Mutscheller caught 44 passes for 700 yards and eight touchdowns. And in Baltimore’s 31-16 championship victory over the New York Giants, no one had more receptions than Mutscheller, a solid threat who made up in grit what he lacked in speed.

As a blocker, he had few peers. Twice, in eight seasons with the Colts, he won the club’s Lineman of the Year award, eclipsing such players as Hall of Famers Art Donovan and Gino Marchetti.

Remember the 1958 championship game and the classic photo of the Colts’ Alan Ameche busting into the end zone for the game-winning TD? Though you don’t see him, Mutscheller helped lead the way.

“I caught (New York Giants’ linebacker) Cliff Livingston just right and drove us both out of the picture,” he said.

That game was perhaps his finest. Among his three receptions was a third-quarter grab of a John Unitas pass that had sailed.

“I had to go up pretty high to get it,” Mutscheller recalled. “I was still airborne when (safety) Jimmy Patton nailed me and I landed on my head.

“When I stood up, in the middle of Yankee Stadium, I kept thinking, ‘Where am I?’ “

He recovered to make a stellar play in overtime. On second-and-goal from the Giants’ seven-yard line, Unitas hit Mutscheller at the one, where he slipped on some ice and slid out of bounds.

Ameche’s touchdown followed.

For years afterward, Mutscheller said, Unitas ribbed him about the play.

“John would say, ‘Geez, Mutscheller, I tried to make a hero out of you, and you screwed it up.’ But it turned out OK. Ameche could handle (the fame) much better than me. He was on The Ed Sullivan Show that night. I would have been scared to death to do that.”

Mutscheller retired in 1961, having caught 220 passes, 40 of them touchdowns. His work ethic was unrivaled. The onetime Notre Dame team captain missed one game in his pro career. The reason?

“I got hit in the rear while making a catch, and my back end turned blue,” he said.

Even now, pushing 80, the Timonium resident continues to work as an insurance agent, a job he has held for 53 years.

“Quit? Never. I’m too fidgety to sit around, and my golf game was never good,” he said.

Married since 1956, he and his wife, Pert, have four sons, four grandchildren and a life that would have turned out different had a skinny young rookie not made the Colts by the skin of his teeth.

“In 1954, I’d just gotten out of the Marines when I came out for the team,” Mutscheller said. “Camp was tough. (Coach) Weeb Ewbank threatened to cut me because I had ‘Army legs’ – good for marching but not for running.”

Before the team’s final cut, players and coaches met at the Pikesville Armory to pare the roster. Together.

“They didn’t know who to drop, so they asked six of us – including me – to leave the room so the players could vote,” Mutscheller said.

He made the club, Army legs and all.

Tony Davis
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee

Michael E. “Tony” Davis was born January 21, 1953 in Tecumseh, Nebraska.  Tony played both I-back and fullback for new Head Coach Tom Osborne at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was Osborne’s first 1,000 yard rusher and when he left the Cornhuskers, he was the school’s all-time leading rusher. Davis was a 4th round selection (106th overall pick) out of Nebraska by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1976 NFL Draft. Davis played six seasons for the Bengals (1976–1978) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1979–1981). In 1977, Davis was selected the Bengals team MVP by a vote of players and fans. Davis also played one season for the Boston Breakers of the USFL.

While at Nebraska, Davis was the Most Valuable Player in two of college football’s “Big Four” Bowl games in the same calendar year, the January 1, 1974 Cotton Bowl win over the University of Texas 19-3 and the December 31, 1974 Sugar Bowl win over the University of Florida 13-10. Davis was elected to the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

Since his retirement, Davis has worked as a football assistant at Nebraska, coached high school football in Colorado, and worked in Marketing. Currently, Davis is an advocate who works in communication with Congress to address issues prevalent to retired NFL players. He is also an owner/operator of radio station AM 870 KJMP, an ESPN Radio affiliate in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Benjamin Lynch
Fourth and Goal – National Advocacy Committee