Joe Washington
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| Position: | Running back | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | September 24, 1953 Crockett, Texas | ||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 179 lb (81 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Abraham Lincoln (Port Arthur, Texas) | ||||||||
| College: | Oklahoma | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1976 / round: 1 / pick: 4 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Joe Dan Washington, Jr (born September 24, 1953) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Colts, Washington Redskins, and Atlanta Falcons.
Early career
Washington graduated from Lincoln High School in Port Arthur, Texas where his father coached football. Washington had a stellar college football career at the University of Oklahoma where he was a two time First-team All-American and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1974 and fifth in 1975. He finished his career at Oklahoma with 4,071 career rushing yards. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Professional career
San Diego Chargers
Washington was drafted fourth overall in the first round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. A knee injury forced him to miss the entire 1976 season for the Chargers. In 1977 he played sparingly, appearing in 13 games while rushing for 217 yards and having 244 yards receiving. A month prior to the start of the 1978 season, he was traded to the Baltimore Colts for 3 time Pro Bowl running back Lydell Mitchell.
Baltimore Colts
In 1978, his first year with the Colts, he had 958 yards rushing, which was a career high.
In 1979 he led the NFL with 82 receptions. He also had 750 yards receiving and 884 yards rushing along with seven touchdowns. This led Washington to being voted to the 1979 Pro Bowl.
His most memorable performance was on September 18, 1978 in Baltimore's 34–27 victory over the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, when he had a hand in three of the four touchdowns scored by the Colts in a fourth quarter in which both teams combined for 41 points. He helped lead off the scoring by throwing a 54-yard option pass to Roger Carr. Washington followed that up with a 23-yard touchdown catch from Bill Troup. Washington broke a 27–27 deadlock by scoring the game-winner on a 90-yard kickoff return in a driving rainstorm. It was scored in the final seconds of the game after the Patriots came back from 27–13.[1][2]
He remains the only NFL player to ever throw a touchdown, catch a touchdown and return a kickoff for a touchdown in a single game.
Washington Redskins
With the Redskins, Washington played in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XVIII.
Washington was reportedly the only player who did not wear the 1982 Redskins logo on his helmet. He used the logo the Redskins had used from 1972–1981 and 1983 to present.[citation needed]
Washington retired with 4,839 rushing yards and 3,413 receiving yards and 30 touchdowns in his career.
Post-football career
He had worked as a financial adviser for Wells Fargo.[1] With former basketball player Julius Erving, Washington fielded a NASCAR Busch Series team from 1998–2000.[2] In May 2007, Washington returned to the University of Oklahoma, to serve as the special assistant to the director of athletics/executive director of the Varsity O Association.[3]
References
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
klingamanwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Pockrass, Bob (January 31, 2014). "NFL and NASCAR: Former NFL stars who dabbled in stock-car racing". Sporting News. Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ "Joe Washington biography". The Official Site of Oklahoma Sooner Sports. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
External links
- 1953 births
- Living people
- All-American college football players
- Oklahoma Sooners football players
- American football running backs
- Baltimore Colts players
- San Diego Chargers players
- Washington Redskins players
- Atlanta Falcons players
- American Conference Pro Bowl players
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- Sportspeople from Port Arthur, Texas
- Super Bowl champions