| No. 59 | |||||||
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| Position | Linebacker | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | (1948-12-23)December 23, 1948 (age 77) Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||
| Listed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school | Bishop McCort (Johnstown) | ||||||
| College | Penn State (1968–1970) | ||||||
| NFL draft | 1971: 2nd round, 34th overall pick | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Jack Raphael Ham Jr. (born December 23, 1948) is an American former professionalfootball player who was alinebacker for thePittsburgh Steelers of theNational Football League (NFL) from 1971 to 1982. He is considered one of the greatest outside linebackers in the history of the NFL.[1][2] Ham was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He playedcollege football for thePenn State Nittany Lions. In mid-2019 the newsletter of the PSU Alumni Association rated Ham first among the 100 greatest athletes, considering all sports and all previous football players, in University history.[3][4]
Ham was born and raised inJohnstown, Pennsylvania, where he attendedBishop McCort High School. He continued his education atMassanutten Military Academy inWoodstock, Virginia for apost-graduate season.[5]
Ham played college football atPennsylvania State University, where he also joined thePhi Delta Theta fraternity.[6] In his three years as a starting linebacker, theNittany Lions had records of 11–0, 11–0, and 7–3. In his senior year of 1970, Ham was co-captain, recorded 91 tackles and four interceptions, and was anAll-American. He had 251 career tackles, 143 of them unassisted. He blocked three punts in 1968, setting a school record that was not tied until 1989.[citation needed] He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1990.[1][7]
On December 11, 2014, theBig Ten Network included Ham on "The Mount Rushmore ofPenn State Football", as chosen by online fan voting. Ham was joined in the honor byJohn Cappelletti,LaVar Arrington andShane Conlan.
Ham was selected by thePittsburgh Steelers in the second-round (34th overall) of the1971 NFL draft.[8] He won the starting leftlinebacker job as arookie. He was first-team All-Pro six years and was named to eight straightPro Bowls.[1] Ham was blessed with tremendous quickness — according to Steelers coachChuck Noll and teammateAndy Russell he was the "fastest Steeler for the first ten yards, including wide receivers and running backs".[citation needed] He was one of the few outside linebackers who could play pass defense as well as the NFL's top safeties. Although he was a ferocious hitter, he was known as a player who could not be fooled and was seldom out of position.[2]Maxie Baughan, a former NFL linebacker said of Ham, "He was one of the more intelligent players to ever play that position. He was able to diagnose plays. You couldn't ever fool him."[citation needed]
Ham's career statistics include 25 sacks, 21 fumbles recovered, and 32 interceptions[1] (although the sack numbers are unofficial since the NFL did not begin recording sacks until Ham's final year in the league, so he officially has just three sacks).[9][10] As these numbers indicate, Ham had a flair for the big play, guided by some of the best football instincts ever found in a linebacker. Ham was a member of four Super Bowl winning teams during his 12-year career (although he did not play inSuper Bowl XIV due to an ankle injury), all of it spent with the Steelers.[1][2] His 53 takeaways are the most in NFL history by a non-defensive back, while his 32 interceptions rank him 3rd all time among linebackers, behindDon Shinnick andStan White.
"Dobre Shunka" (eitherPolish orSlovak for "good ham") was Ham's nickname while playing, as well as the name of Ham'sfan club in the 1970s.[5]
After announcing his retirement as an active player on February 17, 1983,[11] Ham began a career as aradio personality. He served as a color commentator for national radio broadcasts of NFL games, and later hosted a show in Pittsburgh withMark Madden onESPN Radio 1250 during the NFL season. Ham is currently a sports analyst for Penn State Radio Network and also appears as an analyst on theWestwood One radio network.[5]
Ham is a minority owner of theNorth American Hockey League'sJohnstown Tomahawks. On January 31, 2013, Ham was honored by the Tomahawks' organization with abobblehead giveaway to the first 1,000 fans who entered theCambria County War Memorial Arena for the Tomahawks' game against thePort Huron Fighting Falcons.[12]
In 2017, Ham became an advocate ofmedical marijuana, having studied the benefits of relievingsymptoms related to playing football, and wants the NFL to soften their stance on the use ofmarijuana in general. Ham felt inspired after seeing the cognitive decline of contemporaryNick Buoniconti, as well as other current and former players including former teammateMike Webster, despite Ham himself being healthy. Ham also believes medical marijuana would help counter the ongoingopioid epidemic affecting society as a whole.[13]
Ham was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1988[14] and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1990.[7] In 1999, he was ranked number 47 onThe Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
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