Jack Snow (American football)

Jack Thomas Snow (January 25, 1943 – January 9, 2006) was an American football player who played wide receiver at the University of Notre Dame from 1962 through 1964 and with the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL from 1965 to 1975.

Early years
Snow was a three-sport star at St. Anthony High School in Long Beach, California who totaled 10 varsity letters while competing in football, baseball and basketball. He was an All-state football lineman during his senior season and went on to post a .458 batting average as an All-city baseball performer.

College
In his senior year at Notre Dame, he was a consensus All-American and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1964 behind the winner, Notre Dame quarterback John Huarte. 1964 was coach Ara Parseghian's first season with Notre Dame, and Parseghian made several key position switches in 1964, including moving Snow from flanker to split end. Snow lost 15 pounds to compete more effectively as a split receiver. Notre Dame's passing offense in Parseghian's first season helped produce 27 team and individual records, including five set by Snow for receptions (60), receiving yards (1,114) and touchdown catches (9) in a season; receiving yards in a game (217, vs. Wisconsin); and career receiving yards (1,242). He broke the previous record for receiving yards in a game (208, by Jim Morse in a 1955 game vs. USC), more than doubled the old record for receiving yards in a season and scored 19 more receptions in one season than any previous Notre Dame player. Snow also averaged nearly 37 yards per kick as the 1964 team's punter.

NFL career
The Minnesota Vikings selected Snow in the first round (he was the number 8 pick overall) in the 1965 NFL Draft but shortly traded him to the Rams. Snow broke into the Rams's starting lineup in his rookie 1965 season and remained there. In 1967 he averaged a career-high 26.3 yards per reception and scored eight touchdowns on his 28 receptions. He was named to the West squad in the NFL Pro Bowl, but did not appear in the game. Snow gained a reputation for catching the long pass--in that era's vernacular, "the bomb"--from quarterback Roman Gabriel. Perhaps his best seasons were 1969, when he and Gabriel, that year's NFL MVP, combined for 49 catches, and 1970, when his 51 receptions totaled 859 yards and seven touchdowns, earning him as an honorable mention place on the Associated Press's All-NFC team. Snow remained the Rams's starter at split end until 1974-1975, when he divided time with fellow receivers Lance Rentzel, Harold Jackson, and Ron Jessie. He finished his professional career with 340 receptions and 45 touchdowns; his 6012 career receiving yards ranked 30th in NFL history.

Acting and broadcasting career
Snow appeared in the 1969 motion picture Marooned (starring Gregory Peck). He appeared as himself in the 1969 episode "Samantha's Shopping Spree" of the television series Bewitched. He played Cassidy in the comedy Heaven Can Wait.

Following his NFL career, Snow went into the real-estate business with college roommate Bob Arboit, in Newport Beach, Calif. He returned to the Rams as a receivers coach in 1982 under Ray Malavasi. In 1992 he joined Los Angeles sports-talk radio station KMPC (now KSPN} as an analyst for Rams radio broadcasts and a daily program host. He followed the team to St. Louis in 1995, and was one of a handful of old L.A. Rams still employed by the Rams in the 2005 season, 11 years after their departure from southern California.

Death
Snow developed a staph infection in November 2005 and died at age 62 as a result of complications arising from the infection. He is buried at All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach, California.

Family
Snow's son is former Major League Baseball player J.T. Snow. After the senior Snow's death, the junior Snow changed his uniform number in his father's memory.