Place kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh of the New York Giants kicks a field goal during a game against the New Orleans Saints at Giants Stadium on December 15,. He played college football at Alabama, where he was the team's starting quarterback for their 1978 National . The purchase date corresponds with most of the transfers from Mr. Slaughter's account, according to the suit. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. As a senior, he was a member of the 1974 Parade High School All-American team. "All I had ever seen of football games was everybody falling on each other and piling on each other," she says. . (Birmingham News file). He is a member of famous Player with the age 65 years old group. William Nathan was sold, though, and eventually, so was his son Tony. That year, the Cardinals made a late season run and earned a Super Bowl berth, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-23. ----DeOssie and Roberts Out Steve DeOssie and William Roberts missed practice Wednesday. But he made a great play and I just kept running, and he threw it and I caught it.". ''Maybe it will make them think a bit or at least make their decision tough. His breakout moment came against Montgomery's Robert E. Lee Generals, when, late in the game, he scooped up a fumble and ran 38 yards for the winning touchdown. | Learn more about Jeff . He was part of a team that earned back-to-back state titles at L. Frazier Banks High School in Birmingham, Alabama. William Nathan asked, referring to Bryant's bag. Drafted in the ninth round of the 1979 NFL Draft (246th overall pick) by the Los Angeles Rams, Rutledge played in 14 NFL seasons from 1979 to 1992 for three different teams. "His jersey would just be hanging on him," Woodlawn teammate Brad Hendrix says. Rutledge was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. . Banks coach Shorty White had assigned Muse to shadow Woodlawn's Nathan everywhere he went, and although Nathan finished with 112 yards on 31 carries, Muse was all over him most of the night. Newman serves as a criminal court judge in Miami-Dade County, and six years ago, he hired Nathan to be a bailiff in his courtroom. jeff.rutledge@mcmillanvantage.com. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. ", During his senior season at at Woodlawn High School in 1974, Tony Nathan was a Parade All-American and featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd." Nathan says. At 65 years old, Jeff Rutledge height not available right now. (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. So I ended up saying, 'Thanks, coach, but no thanks.' His finest moment as a professional player came when as a member of the Redskins he came off the bench in a game versus the Detroit Lions in 1990. William Nathan, who worked as millwright at Connors Steel in Birmingham, made his son Tony his first football by stitching together a strip of Naugahyde and stuffing it with rags and cotton balls. "They had the best running back in the state and we had the best quarterback," former Banks head coach George "Shorty" White remembers. Meanwhile, the recruiting letters continued to pour in from schools such as USC, Notre Dame, Texas and Oklahoma, as well as SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. So I had never beaten them.". "I wanted some kind of meat to serve him," William Nathan remembers. During preseason camp, evangelist Wales Goebel, who became a born-again Christian after alcohol destroyed his small-college basketball career and nearly cost him his life, came to share his story with the Woodlawn players. In May 2013, Rutledge was hired by Valley Christian High School in Chandler, Arizona as a full-time staff member and also to lead the football program. While it has been reported that only one gate was open that night, Walter Garrett, who was the stadium manager at Legion Field for 38 years, says that both gates 7A and 7B at the south entrance to the stadium were open, as was customary at all Birmingham high school games there. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. Louise Nathan, though, never was wild about her seeing her son get hit. Sports Illustrated featured him in its "Faces in the Crowd" section after he ran for 228 yards and scored seven touchdowns against Ramsay, and late in the season, along with Banks quarterback Jeff Rutledge, he was named a Parade All-American. "I was like, 'All right, it's that time.'". Jeffrey Hunter was born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. on November 25, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana, an only child. I knew it even before that, when Plan B came along.'' "Before I signed to go to Alabama, Coach Bryant told me, 'Well, look, you can try out (for basketball), but if you're not within the top six, you've got to come back out for spring ball.'''. There's something always new at the courthouse.". 2. In overtime, he hit Art Monk with a vital 40-yard pass on third and 15 to help set up Chip Lohmiller's game-winning field goal. How tall is Jeff Rutledge? ''My first year in the league, with the Rams, it was hairy because they had so many quarterbacks in camp. The easygoing Nathan had the ideal temperament for the job, Newman told him. Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is a former American football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Bold denotes league leader. But there was one catch. Rutledge would never start an NFL game again but he did see spot duty in relief of returning starter Mark Rypien in the Redskins' 1991 Super Bowl Championship season, including some playing time in the last game of the regular season, again against the Philadelphia Eagles. When the other team did not pick up on Rutledge, he took the snap and did a sneak up the middle for yardage that gave the Giants a first down that would eventually lead to a go-ahead score. After playing in three college all-star games following his senior season, Nathan fell behind in his classes, and he was worried he might flunk out his spring semester. Today, Ken O'Brien, the Jets' starter, broke a toe. When it came time to pick a college, Nathan considered going to Oklahoma, where renegade coach Barry Switzer was lighting up the scoreboard with a high-powered wishbone offense that was the talk of college football. The year before, Logan had coached at rural Locust Fork High School in Blount County. In the spring of 2007 Rutledge got his first NFL coaching job when he was hired as quarterbacks coach with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals,[5] with direct charge over Kurt Warner. He was part of a team that earned back-to-back state titles at L. Frazier Banks High School in Birmingham, Alabama. I will make you that promise. "We were out there playing in the mud and the rain," Woodlawn's Ragland says. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 22 January. . "We dedicated our season to the glory of the Lord, and we played at a much higher level those two years (1973-74) than we probably should have. "This was before Bo Jackson," Ragland, the Woodlawn quarterback, says. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Although he was mostly used as a back-up, he has two Super Bowl rings - one from the New York Giants and another from the Washington Redskins. Jeff Rutledge was born on January 22, 1957 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Following his senior season at Alabama in 1978, Banks' Jeff Rutledge went on to play 13 years in the National Football League. [1], Rutledge played collegiately at Alabama,[2][3] where he was a member of three SEC Championship teams under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Gerelds, recognizing Nathan's underutilized potential, thought he needed to have the ball in his hands more often and moved him to offense his junior year.Before the start of that 1973 season, something else happened that changed the Woodlawn football team's fortunes. A three-year starter, he also led Alabama to the #2 National ranking in 1977. We had a blast. Now he is not sure what he is. Meanwhile, Tuscaloosa was just an hour away, and one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, had the Crimson Tide not just rolling again, but steamrolling. White says he was assured by the Legion Field crew that it would be able to handle the crowd. His wife, Laura, a former Miss . "All three kids were raised here. "I've never known a Nathan to quit anything," she said. "That's what I always wanted. American football player and coach (born 1957) Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is a former American football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). After the season ended, he accepted an assistant coaching position on Paul "Bear" Bryant's staff at Alabama, where he was part of back-to-back national championships in 1978 and 1979 -- the first of which featured Rutledge and Nathan in the starting backfield. The athletic teams at Banks adopted the name Jets, and in 1961, the Alabama Air National Guard loaned the school a Korean War-era F-86D Sabre jet, which was painted in the school colors of Columbia blue and scarlet and prominently displayed on campus, making it an inviting target for practical jokers from rival schools. "It was the thrill of my life," Louise Nathan says. He also led the Crimson Tide to two Sugar Bowl appearances and two SEC Championships. From his perch in the press box, Birmingham News sportswriter Wayne Martin could see the pedestrian bottleneck at the south entrance of Legion Field, as well as an unbroken strand of headlights from the long line of cars on Graymont Avenue, which was backed up all the way to downtown. When the teams ran back onto the field for the third time, the lower bowl of Legion Field was practically full. A few years ago, though, Nathan realized one thing was missing in his life. He got permission from his academic advisers to drop his courses with a withdraw-passing grade and come back to finish his degree later. Tony Nathan, left, goes to midfield for the pre-game coin toss with his Woodlawn High School teammates Mike Allison, center, and Peyton Zarzour, right. And I don't know when that will be.'' "We let them run and play," Tony's father, whom the family calls "Pops," says. While Nathan ran for 112 yards and scored a touchdown that night, the Colonels lost to the Jets 18-7, with Rutledge completing eight of nine passing for 185 yards and a touchdown. And while most college players today are bigger, faster and stronger now than they were during Nathan's college days, Legg has no doubt that, had Nathan come along four decades later, Nick Saban would find a place for him with Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake in the Crimson Tide's current running back rotation. ", Tony Nathan prepares to take a hand-off from quarterback Jeff Rutledge at the University of Alabama. That game meant that Rutledge got the nod to start the following week on Monday Night against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that was to become infamously known as the "Body Bag Game". "He's very respected here," McNeal says of his old teammate. Rutledge led Montgomery Bell Academy to a 41-17 record from 20022006, with two state *les in 2002 and 2003 and a #15 ranking in the final USA Today Super 25 poll in 2003. According to our records, Jeff Rutledge is possibly single. Though Rutledge was available, no other team signed him. (Linebacker) Barry Krauss could play today. Or was it 17-7? Woodlawn, meanwhile, had a nice streak going, too, winning 11 in a row since it fell to Banks 17-7 in 1973. BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Forty years later, the details have gotten fuzzier and the legends have grown larger. "It wasn't hard to grab a piece of it. "Everywhere Tony lined up, there was Greg," Rutledge remembers. This Korean War-era Sabre jet, which was loaned to Banks High School in 1961, was repainted in school colors and prominently displayed on campus. Jeff Rutledge, Nathan's old rival from Banks, was now his teammate, quarterbacking the Tide. Roberts, the starting left guard, has a slightly sprained left knee, which was reported improved. Fast learner, critical thinker with an eye for efficiency, and generally fun guy. "I get to meet a ton of people -- lawyers, defendants, victims -- and they all are different," Nathan says. No one could be prouder, though, than the mother who wouldn't let him quit the football team back in the 10th grade, who taught him to always finish what he started. View the profiles of professionals named "Jeff Rutledge" on LinkedIn.