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Jack Thompson
File:Jack Thompson in 2019.jpg
Thompson at Mike Leach's Insurgent Warfare and Football Strategy Class
No. 14     
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1956-05-19) May 19, 1956 (age 67)
Place of birth: Tutuila, American Samoa
Career information
College: Washington State
NFL Draft: 1979 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
No regular season or postseason appearances
Career history
* Cincinnati Bengals ( 1979 1982)
Career highlights and awards
* 2× First-team All-Pac-8/Pac-10 (1976, 1978)
Pass attempts     845
Pass completions     449
Percentage     53.1
TD-INT     33-45
Passing yards     5,315
Passer rating     63.4
Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com

Jack Thompson (born May 18, 1956) is an American former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League for six seasons. He was known as "the Throwin' Samoan," a nickname bestowed on him by Spokesman-Review columnist Harry Missildine during Thompson's breakout sophomore season at Washington State University in 1976.

College career[]

As a collegian at Washington State in Pullman, Thompson set numerous school, Pac-10 and NCAA records. In the second game of 1976, he took over on offense after senior starter John Hopkins was injured making a tackle in the second quarter at Minnesota.[1]

As a senior in 1978, he finished ninth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy,[2][3] and concluded his college career as the most prolific passer in NCAA history with 7,818 passing yards.[4] Thompson set Pac-10 records for attempts, completions, and TD passes. He was all-conference three times and either first-team, second-team, or honorable mention All-American three times.

College statistics[]

Legend
Led the Pac-8/Pac-10
Pac-8/Pac-10 record
Led the NCAA
NCAA Record
Bold Career high
College passing statistics* [5]
Season School Games Cmp Att Yds Pct TD INT QBR
1975 Washington State 11 26 54 351 48.1% 3 2 113.7
1976 Washington State 11 208 355 2,762 58.6% 20 14 134.7
1977 Washington State 11 192 329 2,372 58.4% 13 13 124.1
1978 Washington State 11 175 348 2,333 50.3% 17 20 111.2
Career Washington State 44 601 1,086 7,818 55.3% 53 49 122.9

* Includes bowl games.


He is one of only two players in school history to have his number retired (with Pro Football Hall of Famer Mel Hein). Thompson wore No. 14 and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1974, south of Seattle.

NFL career[]

Thompson was the first quarterback selected in the 1979 NFL Draft, taken third overall by the Cincinnati Bengals,[4][6] and played there for four years, which included the Super Bowl season in 1981.

Considered by ESPN to be a bust of a draft pick (#26 worst – fellow WSU grad Ryan Leaf is considered #1),[7] Thompson went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1983 and was the starter, but was replaced the following year by Steve DeBerg.

NFL career statistics[]

Legend
Led the league
NFL record
Won the Super Bowl
AP NFL MVP
Super Bowl MVP
Bold Career high

Regular season[]

Year Team Games Passing Rushing Sacked Fumbles Record
G GS Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A Lng TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Sck Yds Fum Lost W–L
1979 CIN 9 1 39 87 44.8 481 5.5 50 1 5 42.4 21 116 5.5 5 16 178 3 1 0–1
1980 CIN 14 4 115 234 49.1 1,324 5.7 59 11 12 60.9 18 84 4.7 1 13 113 5 3 1-3
1981 CIN 8 0 21 49 42.9 267 5.4 21 1 2 50.3 0 0 0.0 0 7 61 0 0 0-0
1982 CIN 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0
1983 TB 14 13 249 423 58.9 2,906 6.9 80 18 21 73.3 26 27 1.0 0 39 289 10 5 2-11
1984 TB 5 3 25 52 48.1 337 6.5 74 2 5 42.4 5 35 7.0 0 10 54 1 1 1-2
Total 51 21 449 845 53.1 5,315 6.3 80 33 45 63.4 70 262 3.7 6 85 695 19 10 4-17

Playoffs[]

Year Team Games Passing Rushing Sacked Fumbles Record
G GS Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A Lng TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD Sck Yds Fum Lost W–L
1981 CIN 2 0 1 1 100.0 14 14.0 14 0 0 118.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0
Total 2 0 1 1 100.0 14 14.0 14 0 0 118.7 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0

After football[]

After his football career, Thompson settled in Seattle and became a mortgage banker, as well as a volunteer quarterbacks coach at Ballard High School. His son Tony, a tight end, followed in his dad's footsteps in suiting up at Washington State, and a nephew, Tavita Pritchard, was a quarterback at Stanford University.

See also[]

  • List of quarterbacks of non-white or non-black descent

References[]

External links[]

Template:Washington State Cougars quarterback navbox

Template:Bengals1979DraftPicks

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