Herbert Jackson "Jack" Youngblood
III (born January 26, 1950 in Jacksonville,
Florida
) is a former American
football defensive end who played
for 14 years for the Los Angeles Rams
of the National Football
League. He was a five-time consensus All-Pro and a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and was
inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
. Youngblood graduated from the University of
Florida
, was an All-America
selection, and is considered among the best players the school has
ever produced, having been named to the Gator Football Ring of Honor
and voted into the College Football Hall of Fame
.
After retiring from the NFL in 1985 he was a member of the front
office for the Rams until 1991. In 1991-92 he worked in the front
office of the
Sacramento Surge and
in 1993-94 he worked in the administration of the
Sacramento Gold Miners. He was a
vice-president, then president, of the
Orlando Predators from 1995 until 1999.
From 1999 through 2002 he served as the National Football League
liaison for the
Arena Football
League.
Youngblood has made forays into broadcasting (both radio and
television), acting, business, and penned an autobiography. He was
a popular spokesperson for various products, and he has been
consistently involved in charity work, starting in college,
continuing throughout his NFL career, and remaining so today.
Early years
The son of Herbert J. and Kay Youngblood, Jack has two sisters,
Paula and Lynn.
Youngblood attended Monticello-Jefferson
County High School in Monticello, Florida
, graduating in 1967. As an offensive lineman
and linebacker, he was a starter on offense and defense and team
captain of the state champion Tigers, earning All-State honors in
1966. He was also All-Big Bend, All-Conference and the Big Bend
Linemen of the Year and the Outstanding Lineman for the Tigers that
season while leading a defense that shutout seven opponents and
allowed ten touchdowns in 12 games, including the state playoffs.
He was a four-year letterman in football and also played basketball
at M-JC High as well as participating in 4-H, Student Council and
Key Club International.
Youngblood was named to Florida's All-Time High school football
team by
Sports
Illustrated in 1989. In November 2007, he was voted to the
Florida High
School Athletic Association's
All-Century High School football
team.
College career
At the
University of
Florida
, Youngblood earned a degree in finance, was a
brother of the Florida Alpha Omega Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and was a
three-year varsity letterman. Youngblood had entered school
at 195 pounds and put on 10 pounds a year through weight-lifting,
finishing around 245 pounds. Youngblood and his teammates were part
of the testing of what became
Gatorade, a
beverage created by Doctors
Robert Cade
and Dana Shires, designed to help Gator athletes who had to
practice and play in Central Florida heat. Said Youngblood, “Dr.
Cade began experimenting with Gatorade my freshman year. He tried
to kill us all! That first stuff was lethal! It was thick, like
syrup, and had an aftertaste. Then, it started to look like
milk.″
As a freshman Youngblood defensive end, wearing number 52, for the
Gator Freshman Team. It was his first experience on the defensive
line, after playing linebacker in High School. As a sophomore in
1968, Youngblood played defensive end and defensive tackle while
also handling the kicking chores for the Gators, kicking a
career-long 42-yard field goal to provide the three point winning
margin in his first collegiate game which was against
Air Force.
In 1969
Youngblood was part of a 9-1-1 Gator team that upset the University of
Tennessee Volunteers
in the Gator Bowl in
Ray Graves's final game as coach at
Florida. Youngblood played a key role in the
Gator Bowl
recording nine tackles and forcing a fumble. Youngblood first
gained national attention after an October 4, 1969, 5-sack
performance 21-6 win versus instate rival
Florida
State University. He set a school record for sacks (14) in 1969
and led the teams' defensive linemen with 66 tackles.
In 1970, Youngblood was voted
All-American, while
leading the team with 10 sacks to finish his Gator career with 29
quarterback sacks. Additionally, he was a finalist for the
Outland Trophy following the 1970 season and
was voted the 1970
SEC
lineman of the year. Youngblood was also named to the SEC
All-Conference team in 1970, which ended three winning seasons
while at Florida. He was also the 1970 recipient of Florida's
Forrest K.
Ferguson Award,
which goes to the senior who displays outstanding leadership,
character, and courage. His performance in the
Florida/University of
Georgia rivalry earned him a spot in the
Florida-Georgia Game Hall of Fame as well. In the 1970 edition
of the game, Florida trailed Georgia by seven points and the
Georgia offense had driven to Florida's 1-yard line, Youngblood
stopped a Georgia running back short of the goal line and forced
him to fumble and then recovered the loose ball beginning a rally
that gained a come-from-behind 24-17 victory in what is known as
"
The
World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party".
Some regard Youngblood, who was considered to be an excellent pass
rusher, as the best defensive lineman in Gators history as well as
one of the top five players in the University of Florida's football
program. When
Time magazine chose him
for their 1970 All-America Team, it said of Youngblood:
"Deceptively fast for his size, he reads screens and swing passes
so adroitly that he intimidates quarterbacks by his mere presence."
His coach Doug Dickey told
The
Sporting News, “He is difficult to move when you run at
him, has the speed an agility to pursue down the line of scrimmage,
and the strength and quickness to rush the passer”. One experienced
Florida writer still agrees stating, “Youngblood has to be viewed
as one of the top five Gators ever. A phenomenal pass
rusher″.
NFL career
Youngblood was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round
of the
1971 NFL Draft. He was the
20th overall pick in that draft and signed a 3-year $105,000
contract including a $30,000 signing bonus. That season he backed
up
Deacon Jones at left defensive end
and started four games when Jones was sidelined with a severely
sprained arch. He was named All-Rookie by
Football Digest
and after the season Jones was traded to the San Diego Chargers. In
1972 the left defensive end position was Youngblood's as he led the
Rams defensive linemen in tackles with 70, and started 11 of the 14
games he played, recording six sacks.
In 1973 Youngblood was a Second-team All-pro selection and went to
the first of his seven Pro Bowls and led the Rams with 16½ sacks.
The Ram defense led the NFL in fewest yards allowed and fewest
rushing yards. He was voted the Rams defensive lineman of the year
by the Rams Alumni Association. The following year, 1974, the Rams
again led the NFL in rushing defense and Youngblood led the Rams
with 15 sacks while being voted a consensus First-team All-Pro. The
Rams advanced to the NFC Championship game, losing 14-10 to the
Minnesota Vikings.
Youngblood was honored as the
NFC Defensive Player of the Year
by
United Press
International in 1975 and
Pro Football Weekly named
Youngblood the NFL defensive lineman of the year. For the third
consecutive season Youngblood led the Rams in sacks (15) and was a
consensus All-pro again, repeating his 1974 honor. In a December,
1975, 35-23 playoff win over the
St.
Louis Cardinals, Youngblood pass-rushed Cardinals offensive
lineman
Dan Dierdorf, penetrated into
the backfield, then tipped and intercepted a pass by
Jim Hart, returning the
interception 47 yards for a touchdown. Later in the game,
Youngblood forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate
Fred Dryer, blocked an extra point attempt, and
sacked Hart to stop a Cardinals drive.
Youngblood repeated his NFC Defensive Player of the Year Award in
1976 while co-leading the Rams in sacks with 14½ and being a
consensus First-team All-pro for the third straight season. The
following year, 1977, Youngblood was voted to his fifth consecutive
Pro Bowl and a consensus All-NFC selection and Second-team All-pro
while leading the Rams in sacks for the fifth straight season. In
1978 the Rams led the NFL in total defense and Youngblood was a
consensus First-team All-Pro for the fourth time in five
years.
One of the athletic feats for which Youngblood is best known, is
that of playing the entire
1979
playoffs, including
Super Bowl
XIV, with a fractured left
fibula. He
also played in the
1980 Pro Bowl with
the injured leg, a week after the Super Bowl. In the playoffs,
Youngblood sacked
Dallas Cowboys
quarterback Roger Staubach near the sideline in the
waning moments of the divisional playoff game versus the Cowboys.
Playing with the fractured leg was noted by
Sports
Illustrated in their Top 10 list of athletes playing in pain.
For that and other achievements Jack was dubbed the “John Wayne of
football” by Jim Hanifan and echoed by Hall of Fame coach
John Madden. The
NFL Network series
NFL Top
10 selected Youngblood's performance in the 1979 playoffs as
top on its list of the “Gutsiest Performances″ of all-time.
For the 1979 season Youngblood had a career-high 18 sacks and was a
consensus First-team All-pro for the fifth time. He was voted to
his seventh consecutive Pro Bowl. In 1980 he was Second-team
All-pro and First-team All-NFC while leading the Rams with 11½
sacks. In 1981 Jack led the Rams with 12½ sacks and was the Rams
outstanding defensive lineman. In the off-season, prior to the 1981
season, Jack had emergency surgery to remove a hot-dog sized blood
clot from under his left arm. It was a result of repeated trauma to
a nerve in his arm that blocked the flow of blood. Despite the
broken leg and numerous other injuries, Youngblood played in 201
consecutive games, a Rams team record; and only missed 1 game in
his 14-year NFL career. He played in seven straight
Pro Bowls, 5 NFC Championships, and one Super
Bowl. He was also the Rams defensive captain from 1977 through 1984
and was voted the
Dan Reeves award 3
times, which is awarded to the team's
MVP. He
had 151½ career sacks and led the Rams in sacks nine times despite
playing first in assistant Coach Ray Malavasi's stop-the-run-first
defensive scheme and then in his final two seasons in Defensive
Coordinator
Fritz Shurmer's 3-4
two-gap scheme which limited some pass rush opportunities to make
sure the opponent's running game was handled.
Youngblood faced a challenge in 1983 when the Rams adopted
Shurmer's 3-4 defense. Critics thought Youngblood might be too
small to play that position, yet he performed in it well (recording
10½ sacks in 1983 and 9½ sacks in 1984 while Rams were among the
NFL's best defenses at stopping the run) despite being considered
undersized. Among the standout games in Youngblood's final two
seasons were the opening game of the 1983 season, against the New
York Giants in which Younblood recorded two sacks; and the 1983
season finale against the New Orleans Saints. In the Saints game
Youngblood recorded 10 tackles, two sacks, recorded a safety and
was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by
Pro Football Weekly for the effort. In
Week 5 of 1984 against the New York Giants, Youngblood recorded two
sacks, drew three holding calls and was named NFC Defensive Player
of the Week by the NFL. Then, in Week 10, against the St. Louis
Cardinals, Jack dominated the game sacking Neil Lomax three times
and drawing three holding calls, and blocking a potential
game-tying field goal on the game's final play to preserve a 16-13
Rams win.
His streak of consecutive games played ended in Week 15 of the
1984 season, when
Youngblood had to sit out his first football game since being a
collegiate player in 1970. He had suffered a ruptured disc in his
lower back two weeks earlier. Despite the injury, he returned for
the season finale against the 49ers and the playoffs. He attributed
his ability to play to a series of back adjustments that allowed
him more freedom of movement, even though team doctors told
Youngblood he was out for the season and needed surgery. He was
voted the Rams' recipient of the 1984
Ed Block Courage Award by
“representing everything that is positive about professional
football and serving as an inspiration in their locker rooms being
a positive role model in his communities”.

180 px
When Youngblood retired on August 27, 1985, he asked his career to
be remembered for “dignity, integrity, respect and pride″.
Post-NFL career
Acting and broadcasting
Youngblood appeared in two television movies:
C.A.T.
Squad in 1986 and
C.A.T. Squad: Python
Wolf in 1988. For "Python Wolf" he was nominated for an Emmy
for 'Best Supporting Actor'. In the telefilms Youngblood played a
Secret Service agent in the "Counter Assault Technical Squad" named
John Sommers who was the “best weapons and munitions man in the
business″ and who was a fine secret service agent but hated big
cities like Washington D.C. and New York and was thus banished to
Alaska. In the plot-line of the movies "John Sommers" was a member
of the
Air Force Reserve who
piloted
SR-71 spyplane. In these films
Youngblood starred along with Joe Cortese,
Steve James, and
Deborah Van Valkenburgh. Both films
were directed by
William Friedkin
who is most noted for directing
The Exorcist,
The French Connection, and
the
Boys in the
Band.
Youngblood was a reporter and co-host for ESPN's
NFL GameDay show in 1985 and 1986,
alongside
Chris Berman and was
succeeded by current co-host,
Tom Jackson in 1987. In 1988
he auditioned for the
NFL on CBS's
NFL Today along with
Dick Butkus,
Lyle
Alzado, and
Gary Fencik, with Butkus
being hired to fill the co-host slot. Youngblood was also a regular
guest on ESPN programs
Star-Shot (1988),
Sportslook (1984, 1986, 1988) and
Great Outdoors
(1989) programs.
Youngblood was a radio analyst for the
Los Angeles Rams from 1987–1991, the
Sacramento Surge in 1992, and a
television analyst for the
Sacramento Gold Miners in 1993.
In 2000, Youngblood was hired as the co-host for
Wal-Mart's
Great Outdoors (with
Bert Jones) and
served in that capacity through 2003.
Wal-Mart's Great
Outdoors was telecast 52 weeks a year and was a mainstay on
ESPN's popular Saturday morning outdoors programming block, drawing
impressive ratings throughout its 10-year history.
Autobiography
In 1988, Youngblood authored (with Joel Engel) his autobiography,
Blood. The book outlined Youngblood's drive and passion
for professional football and reviewed his career, his injuries,
his successes, and his failures on the football field. The book
recounts when, between the 1973 and 1974 seasons, Youngblood
traveled to Logan, Utah, to help Rams teammates Merlin and Phil
Olsen with their summer football camp. An altercation in the
parking lot of a local pub resulted in Youngblood having a .44
pistol stuck in his eye and the trigger pulled and fortunately the
chamber was empty, although other chambers were not. A cut eyelid
was the only injury he sustained. After initially pleading
innocent, the assailant later pled guilty and received a one-year
suspended sentence. The book was favorably reviewed by
Publishers Weekly as “an unusual sports
book″.
Football administration
After his retirement, Youngblood worked in player relations and
marketing for the Rams from 1985-90 and served as the Rams' color
analyst for the Rams Radio Network from 1986-1991. Youngblood moved
to the
World League of
American Football as the Director of Marketing for the
Sacramento Surge in 1991 (although he
remained as Rams color announcer for the 1991 season), during which
time the Surge won the 1992
World Bowl.
He moved to the
Sacramento Gold
Miners of the
Canadian
Football League in 1993.
He also served as a color analyst for the
both the Surge and the Gold Miners radio networks and hosted a
sports radio talk show at KHTK
-AM 1140 in
Sacramento
, California
, when that station became a sports format station
in 1994.
In 1995, he returned to his native Florida as Vice President and
General Manager, then later as President, of the
Orlando Predators of the Arena Football
League. One of his major projects with the Predators was taking the
team a publicly traded company on the
NASDAQ
stock exchange. In 1998, Youngblood's final year with the team, the
club won its first
Arena League
championship, defeating the favored
Tampa Bay Storm. In 1999 he began to work
for the AFL office as a liaison to the National Football League and
served as a special consultant to the Arena Football League and
arenafootball2.

180 px
Business
Currently, Youngblood is a division president of Dave Liles Ethanol
Fuels, which produces a fuel additive that purports to boost
octane, clean fuel systems, and help the environment by reducing
engine emissions and being completely biodegradable. He also owns
and maintains a farm in his native North Florida, in which he
currently raises pine trees and where he raised cattle until
2002.
During his NFL career Youngblood partnered with L.A. Rams teammate
Larry Brooks to open "The Wild Bunch"
in 1980, a western clothing store that featured high-end western
wear, including cowboy boots, cowboy hats, silver belt buckles,
jeans, and all else country. Additionally, while still active with
the Rams Youngblood worked with BankAmericard, in a public
relations capacity. He also owned and operated the South Coast Club
in Huntington Beach, California, during his career.
Additionally, some of the sponsorships and advertising ventures
Youngblood was invloved with were a
Miller
Lite TV commercial in 1985 and
Honda Power
machines in 1985. He also had print ads for Pro Tron Weights,
regional ad, 1984, Dan Post Handcrafted Boots, national print-ad
1986, Cal-Gym, national print-ad, 1986, and was a national
spokesman for Protatonin in 2001.In the mid-1980s he also modeled
Munsingwear briefs in a series of magazine and billboard ads. In
the mid-1970s Jack did television commercials and print-ads for
In-N-Out Burger, a California-based
fast food chain.
Continuing popularity
During his career Youngblood gained a loyal following which seems
to continue through today. In July, 2006, a game-used Jack
Youngblood jersey sold for $6565 in an online auction. Fox News'
Mike Straka listed Youngblood as having one of the NFL's “Great
names″.In 2007
Sports Illustrated named Youngblood the
greatest professional athlete to wear the uniform number 85.
Youngblood was also given the same honor in the 2004 book
Right
on the Numbers by Nino Frostino, and the
Best Athletes by
the Number blog. One of Youngblood's biggest fans, David G.
Lewber, died on June 28, 2007. Mr. Lewber was buried in his
autographed Jack Youngblood jersey a week later on July 3,
2007.
Awards and honors
Collegiate
Youngblood was an
All-America selection
in 1970, as well as being the SEC Lineman of the Year, All-SEC, and
a finalist for the Outland Trophy. After his college career,
Youngblood played in the
Senior Bowl and
recorded four sacks. He was named the Outstanding Lineman of the
Game and in 1989 he was voted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.
Additionally he was voted a member of the 50th Anniversary Senior
Bowl All-Time Team in 1999.
For his achievements he was selected to the All-Time SEC team in
1983. He was also voted to the All-SEC Quarter-Century Team
(1950-74) as well as being voted to the 25-year All-SEC teams which
spanned from the 1961 through the 1985 seasons. He was also voted
best Defensive end in SEC for the years 1960-85. Additionally, he
was voted to the SEC All-Decade team for the 1970s.
In 1995, Youngblood
was voted one of the SEC Football
Legends and was presented at the SEC championship game in
Atlanta,
Georgia
.
Youngblood, who is regarded by some as the best defensive end in
Gators history, was named to the All-time Florida Gators teams both
in 1983 and in 1999 as well as the 100-year Anniversary Gator Team
in 2006. In 1975, Youngblood was voted to the
Florida Sports Hall of Fame
which features great athletes who played college or professional
athletics and have a Florida connection. In 2001, he was elected to
the University of Florida Hall of Fame. Five years later, in 2006,
Youngblood was among the first four Gator legends to be inducted
into the
Florida Football
Ring of Honor, alongside
Steve
Spurrier,
Danny Wuerffel, and
Emmitt Smith.
In 1992,
Youngblood was elected to the College Football
Hall of Fame
. He was also selected to the
FWAA 1969-1994 All-America Team with players like
Lawrence Taylor,
Jerry
Rice,
John Elway,
Tony Dorsett,
Ronnie
Lott, and
Jack Tatum. In 1999, he was
named to the
Sports Illustrated NCAA Football All-Century
Team as one of only six defensive ends named to the squad.
He was named by one SEC publication as the Top All-Time SEC
Defensive of All-Time. Youngblood was also named by the
Birmingham News as one of the Top 10 defensive lineman in
SEC history, ranking with SEC greats as
Reggie White,
Doug
Atkins, and
Bill Stanfill. In
addition, he is one of the three the top defensive lineman in
history of the SEC, making the 75th Anniversary All-SEC Team in
2007 as determinded by votes of SEC fans.
National Football League
Youngblood was elected to NFL All-Pro teams five times (
1974,
1975,
1976,
1978,
1979) during his 14 years with
the Rams and was an All-NFC selection seven times (1974-80). In
addition, Youngblood was a second-team All-Pro in
1973,
1977, and
1980 and was second-team
All-NFC in 1973 and 1984. He was also named to seven Pro Bowls and
was a first alternate to the game in 1984, his final season.
Youngblood was also on the 1984
All-Madden team
and was chosen by
John
Madden as the player who most exemplified the All-Madden
team.
Youngblood is also a member of the Los Angeles Rams' 50th
Anniversary Team (1985), and the Rams All-Century Team chosen after
the 1999 season. In October 2001 he was honored in the St. Louis
Rams Ring of Fame, along with
Jackie
Slater. Youngblood was voted the Rams' Outstanding Defensive
Linemen by the Rams' Alumni nine times (1973, 1975-76, 1978-81, and
1983-84).
Youngblood, in 1987, was voted to the Orange County (California)
Sports Hall of Fame along with Pat McCormick,
Ann Meyers and Cap Sheue. Four years earlier
Youngblood was recognized as the 1983 Orange County Sportsman of
the Year by the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation. Other
notable honorees have been
Jim Nantz,
Peter Ueberroth, John McKay, Bill
Walsh, and
Pete Carroll.
Youngblood played in 201 consecutive games, a Rams team record; he
only missed one game in his 14-year NFL career. He was also the
Rams' defensive captain from 1977 through 1984 and was voted the
recipient
Dan Reeves award three times,
which is awarded to the team's most valuable player. He had 151.5
career sacks and led the Rams in sacks nine times despite playing
first in assistant coach Ray Malavasi's stop-the-run-first
defensive scheme and then in his final two seasons in defensive
coordinator
Fritz Shurmer's 3-4
two-gap scheme which limited some pass rush opportunities to make
sure the opponent's running game was handled. His highest
single-season sack total was 18 in 1979.
He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001 along with
Ron Yary,
Lynn
Swann, Jackie Slater,
Mike Munchak,
Marv Levy, and
Nick Buoniconti and inducted in August in
Canton, Ohio. Youngblood echoed his post-retirement sentiments in
his Hall of Fame acceptance speech by stating, “I didn't sack the
quarterback every time I rushed the passer. I didn't make every
tackle for a loss. I guess — no one could. But, it wasn't because I
didn't have the passion to, the desire to. I hope that
showed”.
Youngblood's style of play and perceived ability to play hurt
brought many notations in NFL lore. In 1996
NFL Films named him to their list of the 100
Toughest Players of All-Time and in 2006 NFL writer Neil Reynolds
featured Youngblood in his 2006 book "Pain Gang," in which Reynolds
names Youngblood as one of the 50 Toughest players of All-Time. In
addition,
Blitz magazine,
The Sporting News,
Football Digest, and
Sport magazine have singled
Youngblood out as one of the toughest and one of the hardest
hitting players of all-time. He was named by
Yahoo! writer Charles Robinson as the best-ever
player taken in the 20th slot of the 1st round of the NFL draft
calling Youngblood “the essence of today's defensive end——a mixture
of strength, toughness and speed that few ends boasted in the
1970s.” In 2000,
Sports Illustrated ranked Youngblood as
#4 in its list of the greatest pass rushers of all-time, behind
only
Deacon Jones,
Reggie White and
Lawrence Taylor.
During his career, Jack won the respect of both teammates and
opponents.
Dan Dierdorf, a Hall of Fame
tackle, said that Youngblood was “by far the toughest opponent I
faced in my career”, a thought echoed by Viking Hall of Fame tackle
Ron Yary who said, “There wasn't anybody
who was tougher to block than Jack”. Other NFL greats such as Hall
of Fame tackles
Bob Brown and
Rayfield Wright, rank Jack among the
top players they faced. Opposing quarterbacks also ranked
Youngblood highly, with two of them,
Fran
Tarkenton and
Roger Staubach,
stating that Jack was the top defensive lineman they faced in their
careers. Hall of Fame defensive tackle
Merlin Olsen paid Youngblood the highest
compliment by stating that Jack was the “perfect defensive end″.
Running backs also entered the chorus, “I remember bouncing off
Jack Youngblood and it was just like a pillar of strength over
there on the defense,”
Rocky Bleier
recalled. “Jack played hurt, he played tough, and he was a great
opponent.”
To all the praise, Youngblood responded, “I don't consider myself
tough, I consider myself a
nut for some of the things I
did”. Youngblood concluded, “I wasn’t the biggest guy, I certainly
wasn’t the strongest and I wasn’t the fastest either. But I think
one of my biggest assets was that I had an undeniable determination
to be the best that has ever put his hand on the ground, I had a
genuine desire to be great.”
Charitable activities
While at the University of Florida, Youngblood was invloved in the
Fellowship of Christian
Athletes while also speaking to youth groups and raising funds
for needy children—one such event was a 57-mile bicycle ride he
organized which intended to send disadvantaged youth to a summer
camp.
Youngblood was involved in the 1974
NFL-USO tour to
Vietnam
and Southeast Asia. In 1977, Youngblood
was the chairman of the Los Angeles
-area "Right to Read" program and active in the
Muscular Dystrophy
Foundation. The same year, he was the
United Way spokesman for the Rams and
was the club's Man of the Year nominee in 1975 and 1983. In 1986 He
participated the
Hands Across
America, an event to end hunger in the United States. Other NFL
stars including Walter Payton and Tony Dorsett were also in the
nation-wide hand-holding line. In his final 13 years (1979-1991) in
Los Angeles, Youngblood sponsored a celebrity golf tournament for
the John Tracy Clinic for Deaf Children, and was active with
programs at the Children's Hospital for Orange County. He was named
the Orange County "Sportsman of the Year" by the hospital in
1987.
Since 2001, Youngblood has been the St. Louis Rams' host for the
Taste of the NFL charity event, a dinner held annually at
the Super Bowl to raise funds for Feeding America-The Nation's
Foodbank Network. In April, 2007, Youngblood was inducted into the
National Football League
Alumni Association’s prestigious Order of the Leather Helmet,
which is the highest award for the NFL Alumni given to those “who
make a lasting impression on the game”.
Throughout his NFL career and after Youngblood has been a skilled
public speaker being sought after by corporate, athletic, and
Christian groups due to his activity and success in those arenas.
He also attends hunting, fishing and golf outings when associated
with a good cause. He also is active in the Orlando chapter of
Young Life, a nationwide organization
whose goals include attempting to mentor young men and women in the
Christian faith. Jack's wife, Barbara Youngblood, serves on the
Executive Committee for Young Life for the Orlando Chapter.
Youngblood serves on the Honorary Advisory Board of the St. Louis
Rams along with notables like
Bill Cosby,
August A. Busch III,
Jonathan
Winters,
Dick Gephardt,
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and
Stan Musial,
Maxine
Waters, Dr. Toby Freedman, et al. Former members of the Rams
Advisory Board, created in 1981, include, Lord David Westbury,
former Ram and Evangelist
Rosey Grier,
Maureen Reagan,
Henry Mancini,
Bob
Hope,
Danny Thomas, Jane Upton
Bell, former President
Gerald Ford among
others.
Youngblood is also involved in helping former NFL players in need
by supporting the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund (GGAF). The
Gridiron Greats sponsors golf tournaments, autograph signings,
memorabilia auctions, clay pigeon shoots and dinners to raise funds
for retired players.
References
- 1991 Los Angeles Rams Media Guide. Retrieved 02-09-2009.
- 1992 Sacramento Surge Media Guide. Retrieved 02-09-2009.
- 1996 Orlando Predators Media Guide. Retrieved
02-09-2009.
- 1993 Sacramento Gold Miners Media Guide. Retrieved
02-09-2009.
- 1999 Orlando Predators Media Guide. Retrieved
02-09-2009.
- 1976 Los Angeles Rams Media Guide Retrieved on 2009-02-07.
- 1980 Los Angeles Rams Media Guide Retrieved on 2009-02-07.
External links