| No. 75 | |
| Tackle | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: December 19, 1959 | |
| Place of birth: Cleveland, Ohio | |
| Career information | |
| College: Notre Dame | |
| NFL Draft: 1982 / Round: 5 / Pick: 137 | |
| No regular season or postseason appearances | |
| Career history | |
| * Dallas Cowboys ( 1982– 1987) | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| * Honorable-mention All-American (1981) | |
| Games played | 70 |
| Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
Philip Maurice Pozderac (born December 19, 1959) is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame.
Early years[]
Pozderac attended Garfield Heights High School, where he practiced basketball and football.
He accepted a football scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. In his first two years he was a backup at right tackle behind All-American Tim Foley. He was named the starter at right tackle in his junior and senior seasons.
In his last year, he received the team's Outstanding Offensive player and honorable-mention All-American honors. He finished his college career with 23 straight starts.
Professional career[]
Dallas Cowboys[]
Pozderac was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round (137th overall) of the 1982 NFL Draft and became the NFL's tallest player over Ed "Too Tall" Jones (he was a half-inch taller than Jones). As a rookie, with tight end Jay Saldi injured most of the year, he played left tackle on short-yardage situations, with Pat Donovan moving to the tight end spot.
In 1983, he started two regular season contests in place of an injured Donovan and played left tackle on all short-yardage and goal situations when the Cowboys went to a 3 three-tight end formation. He started the 7th game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles at right tackle in place of an injured Jim Cooper.
In 1984, after the retirement of Donovan, he beat former first round selection Howard Richards for the starting left tackle job (7 starts), before being moved to the right tackle position, when Cooper missed half of the season after being injured on a bizarre accident, when he slipped and broke his ankle while rising from a table at a night club, while watching Monday Night Football.[1]
The next year, he was the starter at left tackle until an injured right knee forced him out of the lineup after 3 starts. He returned to start 4 more games, until being moved to the right side to back up Cooper, with Chris Schultz keeping the left side job.
In 1986 he was the starter left tackle, before losing his job to Mark Tuinei and being moved to the other side.[2] He also received two infamous penalties that negated critical first downs during the final 75 seconds of a 17-14 loss against the New York Giants, propelling the team to a Super Bowl Championship.[3] The coaches and media speculated that he became a target of the league's referees, gaining notoriety for holding and false start penalties.[4] A standing joke in Dallas would be to list Pozderac's 5 best plays with the answer being - #1 Holding, #1 Holding, #3 Holding, #4 Holding, #5 False start.
He suddenly retired during the 1987 NFL strike and was replaced by rookie Kevin Gogan at right tackle.[5]
Indianapolis Colts[]
In 1991 he attempted a comeback with the Indianapolis Colts, but was released before the start of the season.[6]
Personal life[]
He served as the NFL Players Association Dallas Chapter Chief Financial officer, Director of Sales for SC&T International, VP of Sales for Nextlink, and CEO of both MedPact and MPACT, two companies in the digital communication industry.
Pozderac has worked with the Fellows Research Group to aid research regarding the viability of thermo-acoustic devices for low temperature electric energy generation. He also had part ownership in a manufactured housing plant in Laredo Texas and a sawmill in Oklahoma. As of 2013, he was the Operations Director at the Mulligan Mint, a private minting facility in Dallas, Texas.
References[]
- ↑ "Sports Briefs: Cowboys lose guard, Hogeboom Still No.1". Gainesville Sun: p. 3D. 17 October 1984. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19841016&id=bDxWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xukDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5477,504292. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ↑ "Cowboys Make Some Changes". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press (Spokane): p. D3. 24 September 1986. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19860924&id=GRNQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RwgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5814,5334559. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ↑ Anderson, Dave (3 November 1986). "Man to Man". The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina): p. 17. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19861103&id=Q4BPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eSQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5995,781785. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ↑ "Cowboys' tackle Pozderac retires". Wilmington Morning Star. Associated Press: p. 6B. 23 October 1987. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19871023&id=qUlOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BRQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1678,3125815. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ↑ "Cowboy rookie hoped to help defeat Giants". Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania): p. B5. 3 November 1987. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19871103&id=VHBeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vGENAAAAIBAJ&pg=3595,204587. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ↑ "Tampa Bay signs top draft pick". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Associated Press: p. D2. 15 August 1991. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19910815&id=M7EeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-M4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6310,4041550. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
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