Word: theismann
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Redskins Quarterback Joe Theismann looked beneficent, his eyes cast up to the oil painting of the Great Emancipator above the mantel of the state dining room, his throwing arm restrained by his tuxedo, his hands folded as in supplication, his partner the dainty Nancy Reagan instead of the "diesel" John Riggins. In his dignified spectacles, Actor Burt Reynolds could have been taken for a professor of Chinese art. At his side was Dinah Shore, gracefully gowned with Hollywood-style decolletage...
...Theismann's want for himself was to star, not just play, for the Philadelphia Eagles, the team he most admired as a boy. But a chance meeting with Eagles General Manager Pete Retzlaff made that seem unpromising. "How tall are you?" Retzlaff asked. "Six foot," he replied. "You look 5-10. How much do you weigh?" "One-eighty." "You look 165." Never mind; plenty of other National Football League scouts were attentive. When Theismann was not drafted until the fourth round, he was staggered. Even then, the claimant was Miami, which already employed Bob Griese. Theismann went to Canada...
...Theismann, who recalls thinking, "I'm not here to learn; I've learned," the first year in Toronto was a celebration: the Argonauts went to the Grey Cup. But the next season Theismann broke a leg, and the year after that, salary became a bitter issue. He liked the wild Canadian game, enjoyed fielding an occasional punt and kicking it right back for a rouge (one point). But money and celebrity are attractive to him. In 1974, Theismann came home to the U.S. to fall in behind Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen with the Washington Redskins...
...timing was poor. Training camps were struck and Theismann arrived to cross the picket line of the staunchest union members in the league. On a grizzled old team that kept its own counsel, here was a brash young quarterback who courted interviewers, probably the first third-stringer ever to put his name on a restaurant. "I was 24; Billy was 34; who knows how old Sonny was? And I was ostracized." During a game against the New York Giants, Theismann impulsively replaced an injured punt returner, and that violent work became his job and his credential. The veterans...
...strike, Washington won a Super Bowl that took this year to confirm. "One reason championship teams usually slip," according to Plunkett, "is that the quarterback's tendencies have all been given away. Joe has put two almost perfect years back to back, the hardest thing imaginable." Behind Theismann's 60% completion rate for more than 3,500 yards, the Redskins are having a record scoring year. Earlier this season Washington made up 15 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Raiders, but each went on to earn favorable field position for the playoffs. "It was ironic last...