Robert Gilchrist Douglass (born June 22, 1947) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks before being selected by the Bears in the second round of the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. During his career, he also played for the San Diego Chargers, the New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers. Douglass retired after the 1978 season, after playing 10 seasons in the NFL.
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | June 22, 1947 Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 225 lb (102 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | El Dorado (KS) | ||||||||||||
| College: | Kansas | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1969 / round: 2 / pick: 41 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Early life
editDouglass was raised in El Dorado, Kansas, where his father was a football coach.[1]
College career
editPlaying at the University of Kansas, Douglass was a two-time All-Big Eight Conference (1967–68) selection and an All-American in 1968. During his senior season, he directed the Jayhawks to a 9–2 record, a share of the Big Eight Conference title and a spot in the 1969 Orange Bowl. He passed for 1,316 yards and 12 touchdowns during his final year as a Jayhawk and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting that season.[2]
Career statistics
| Season | Team | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||||
| Kansas Jayhawks | |||||||||||||||
| 1966 | Kansas | 17 | 38 | 44.7 | 175 | 4.6 | 1 | 3 | 76.3 | 72 | 105 | 1.5 | 0 | ||
| 1967 | Kansas | 82 | 173 | 47.4 | 1,326 | 7.7 | 7 | 11 | 112.4 | 175 | 415 | 2.4 | 7 | ||
| 1968 | Kansas | 84 | 168 | 50.0 | 1,316 | 7.8 | 12 | 6 | 132.2 | 148 | 495 | 3.3 | 12 | ||
| Career | 183 | 379 | 48.3 | 2,817 | 7.4 | 20 | 20 | 117.6 | 395 | 1,015 | 2.6 | 19 | |||
Professional career
editIn 1972, playing for the Chicago Bears, Douglass set the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in one season. The record stood for 34 years. In a 14-game 1972 season, he ran for 968 yards and 8 touchdowns on 141 carries. Six quarterbacks (three in the CFL, three in the NFL) have since run for over 1,000 yards. With Douglass starting, the Chicago Bears had a 13–31–1 record.[3]
In a November 4, 1973 game against the Packers, Douglass ran for four touchdowns in a 31–17 win. He and Billy Kilmer are the only quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for four touchdowns in a single game.
In five seasons from 1971 to 1975, Douglass played in 47 games and amassed 2,040 rushing yards. During that span, he averaged 43.4 rushing yards per game played—the third highest rushing yards per game average over a five-season span for a quarterback. (Michael Vick ranks first with 54.1 yards per game over a five-year span from 2002 to 2006). However, Douglass had little success as a passer, going 507-for-1178 for 36 touchdowns and 64 interceptions with a quarterback passer rating of only 48.5 during his 10-season NFL career.
NFL career statistics
edit| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1969 | CHI | 11 | 7 | 1−6 | 68 | 148 | 45.9 | 773 | 5.2 | 5 | 8 | 50.9 | 51 | 408 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 1970 | CHI | 3 | 1 | 1−0 | 12 | 30 | 40.0 | 218 | 7.3 | 4 | 3 | 65.7 | 7 | 22 | 3.1 | 0 |
| 1971 | CHI | 12 | 7 | 3−4 | 91 | 225 | 40.4 | 1,164 | 5.2 | 5 | 15 | 37.0 | 39 | 284 | 7.3 | 3 |
| 1972 | CHI | 14 | 14 | 4−9−1 | 75 | 198 | 37.9 | 1,246 | 6.3 | 9 | 12 | 49.8 | 141 | 968 | 6.9 | 8 |
| 1973 | CHI | 13 | 12 | 3−9 | 81 | 174 | 46.6 | 1,057 | 6.1 | 5 | 7 | 59.0 | 94 | 525 | 5.6 | 5 |
| 1974 | CHI | 7 | 3 | 1−2 | 41 | 100 | 41.0 | 387 | 3.9 | 2 | 4 | 42.4 | 36 | 229 | 6.4 | 1 |
| 1975 | CHI | 1 | 1 | 0−1 | 8 | 20 | 40.0 | 87 | 4.4 | 0 | 2 | 14.0 | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 1 |
| SD | 3 | 0 | — | 7 | 27 | 25.9 | 53 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 24.2 | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | 0 | |
| 1976 | NO | 11 | 6 | 2−4 | 103 | 213 | 48.4 | 1,288 | 6.0 | 4 | 8 | 58.2 | 21 | 92 | 4.4 | 2 |
| 1977 | NO | 4 | 2 | 1−1 | 16 | 31 | 51.6 | 130 | 4.2 | 1 | 3 | 33.7 | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 |
| 1978 | GB | 12 | 0 | — | 5 | 12 | 41.7 | 90 | 7.5 | 1 | 1 | 61.1 | 4 | 27 | 6.8 | 0 |
| Career | 91 | 53 | 16−36−1 | 507 | 1,178 | 43.0 | 6,493 | 5.5 | 36 | 64 | 48.5 | 410 | 2,654 | 6.5 | 22 | |
Baseball career
editAfter his professional football career was over, Douglass briefly played minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. In 1980, he pitched four games for the Iowa Oaks where he had 7 innings pitched, issued 13 walks and failed to record a strikeout.[4]
Personal life
editDouglass was married to former Playboy model Carol O'Neal. They had three children together and he adopted her two sons from a previous marriage.[5]
Douglass was arrested on charges of trespassing on April 13, 2011.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Bobby Douglass, Post 81 American Legion". El Dorado Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
- ^ KU Athletics Football (March 10, 2011). "Former Kansas Quarterback Bobby Douglass Up for Induction to College Football Hall of Fame". Official Website for the University of Kansas Athletics Department. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ Yellon, Al (August 31, 2010). "Bobby Douglass: A Bears Quarterback Who Was One Of A Kind". SB Nation Chicago. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bobby Douglass baseball stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bobby Douglass had it all and could've been the next great Bears quarterback".
- ^ "Former Bears QB arrested this week also wanted in Christian Co". The State Journal-Register. April 15, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2024.