.jpg) Rashad in 2009 | |||||||||
| No. 28, 27 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1949-11-19)November 19, 1949 (age 76) Portland, Oregon, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Mount Tahoma (Tacoma, Washington) | ||||||||
| College | Oregon (1968–1971) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1972: 1st round, 4th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Ahmad Rashad (/əˈmɑːdrəˈʃɑːd/ə-MAHD rə-SHAHD; bornRobert Earl Moore; November 19, 1949) is an Americansportscaster and former professionalfootballwide receiver. He was the fourth overall selection of the1972 NFL draft, taken by theSt. Louis Cardinals. He was known asBobby Moore before changing his name in 1973.
Recruited after high school as a wide receiver by theUniversity of Oregon, he played for theOregon Ducks. He moved to therunning back position and was named to the1971 College Football All-America Team at that position.
He became professional after being drafted by the Cardinals. Rashad returned to playing as wide receiver, and played for the Cardinals for two seasons. After being traded to theBuffalo Bills in 1974, and sitting out the 1975 season with a knee injury, he signed with theSeattle Seahawks before the 1976 season. They traded him shortly thereafter to theMinnesota Vikings (1976–1982), where he earned fourPro Bowl selections from1978 to1981.
Following his retirement from football, Rashad transitioned to television. He worked as a studio analyst, game reporter, and anchor for several sports. Rashad was a panellist on theNFL Live pregame show for NBC, and also notably hosted theNational Basketball Association weekly digest showsNBA Inside Stuff (1990–2004) andNBA Access with Ahmad Rashad (2005–2011).
He has appeared as a fictionalized version of himself as a television sports personality in several films and television shows. In addition, he has hosted several non-sports related game shows and reality television shows. As of 2021[update], he was a member of the digital content team for theNew York Knicks, filming videos for their YouTube channel, as well as emceeing events for the team inMadison Square Garden.
Born Robert Earl Moore in 1949 inPortland, Oregon, he moved with his family toTacoma, Washington. There he playedhigh school football. Rashad graduated fromMount Tahoma High School[1] and accepted anathletic scholarship to theUniversity of Oregon inEugene. He playedfootball for theDucks under head coachJerry Frei, became a member ofOmega Psi Phifraternity, and majored in elementary education at Oregon.[2]
During his junior year in college, Rashad had legal issues in Portland. He was charged withfelony theft in November 1970.[3][4][5] He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, amisdemeanor, in early 1971.[6]
In 1972, Moore converted fromPentecostalism toIslam. He had started to study Islam in college.[7] A year later, Bobby Moore legally changed his name to Ahmad Rashād, which means "admirable one led to truth" in Arabic.[8][9] He adopted his last name from his Egyptian-American mentor, biochemistRashad Khalifa,[10] with whom he studied Arabic.[11] Khalifa was assassinated in 1990.[10]
At Oregon, Moore playedwide receiver and wingback as a sophomore in1969 and made theall-conference team.[12] He moved to running back, where he was anAll-American in1971—in the same backfield withquarterbackDan Fouts.[1] In his final season with the Ducks (1971), he rushed for 1,211 yards, caught 32 passes for 324 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. He finished his three seasons of college football with 2,036 rushing yards, 131 receptions for 1,565 yards, and 36 touchdowns.[13] At the time Moore left Oregon, his rushing yards, receptions, and 226 points were all school records.[14]
Moore was the fourth player selected in the1972 NFL draft,[2] taken by theSt. Louis Cardinals.[15] He made the UPI all-rookie team in1972,[16] but second-year head coachBob Hollway was fired after a 4–9–1 season.Don Coryell was the new head coach in1973.
He traded Rashad, as he was then known, after that season to theBuffalo Bills for backup quarterbackDennis Shaw.[17] In Buffalo, Rashad roomed on the road withO. J. Simpson in1974. He missed the1975 season after a knee injury in the final pre-season game.[18]
Rashad was in the training camp of the expansionSeattle Seahawks, after signing as a free agent. He was traded days before the start of the1976 regular season, sent to theMinnesota Vikings for a future draft pick.[19] He failed the Vikings' physical, but was kept on the team due to the actions of quarterbackFran Tarkenton.[8] The Vikings made it back to theSuper Bowl that season, their last appearance to date.
During his professional football career, Rashad caught 495 passes for 6,831 yards and 44 touchdowns, while also rushing for 52 yards. The standout catch of his career came in a December1980 game against theCleveland Browns. Vikings quarterbackTommy Kramer threw aHail Mary pass to Rashad that resulted in a come-from-behind 28–23 victory and aCentral Division title for the Vikings. This became known as "TheMiracle at the Met", or, alternatively, "The Miracle Catch". Rashad also has the distinction of the longest play from scrimmage that didn't score a touchdown: 98 yards in a 1972 game against the Rams.
Rashad replacedJohn Gilliam as receiver with both the St. Louis and Minnesota teams. In 1992 Rashad was named to Oregon's Hall of Fame and to theCollege Football Hall of Fame on May 9, 2007.[20]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1972 | STL | 14 | 13 | 29 | 500 | 17.2 | 98 | 3 |
| 1973 | STL | 13 | 10 | 30 | 409 | 13.6 | 65 | 3 |
| 1974 | BUF | 14 | 14 | 36 | 433 | 12.0 | 29 | 4 |
| 1976 | MIN | 13 | 11 | 53 | 671 | 12.7 | 47 | 3 |
| 1977 | MIN | 14 | 14 | 51 | 681 | 13.4 | 48 | 2 |
| 1978 | MIN | 16 | 16 | 66 | 769 | 11.7 | 58 | 8 |
| 1979 | MIN | 16 | 16 | 80 | 1,156 | 14.5 | 52 | 9 |
| 1980 | MIN | 16 | 16 | 69 | 1,095 | 15.9 | 76 | 5 |
| 1981 | MIN | 16 | 15 | 58 | 884 | 15.2 | 53 | 7 |
| 1982 | MIN | 7 | 6 | 23 | 233 | 10.1 | 21 | 0 |
| 139 | 131 | 495 | 6,831 | 13.8 | 98 | 44 | ||
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1974 | BUF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 25 | 0 |
| 1976 | MIN | 3 | 3 | 7 | 116 | 16.6 | 35 | 0 |
| 1977 | MIN | 2 | 2 | 5 | 55 | 11.0 | 25 | 0 |
| 1978 | MIN | 1 | 1 | 7 | 84 | 12.0 | 31 | 1 |
| 1980 | MIN | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 23.0 | 23 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | 21 | 303 | 14.4 | 35 | 1 | ||
After his football career, Rashad coveredNFL,NBA, andMLB[21] televised contests as a studio anchor and game reporter forNBC andABC, and hostedNBA Inside Stuff for 16 seasons. He also has hosted the video-clip showReal TV in 2000, the reality showCelebrity Mole, thegame showCaesars Challenge along with co-host Dan Doherty,NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad on the ABC network, and the first season ofGame Show Network'sTug of Words.Samantha Harris replaced him for the second season ofTug of Words.[22][23]
He starred in an episode ofMonsters. Rashad has also guest starred on several TV shows, mainly ones that starred his then-wife Phylicia Allen Rashad. In 1988, he filled in forRobb Weller on the weekend edition ofEntertainment Tonight (then known asEntertainment This Week). He used to interview long-time friendMichael Jordan frequently while he was at NBC. In early 2013, he became a panelist on the daily talk showMorning Drive on theGolf Channel, but left that summer. Rashad has narrated the yearly highlight films for NBA championship teams since 2012.
As of May 2021, Rashad now works for theNew York Knicks as a member of their digital content team, making videos for the team's YouTube channel (including sit-down interviews with members of the roster as well as historical retrospectives) as well as emceeing events for the team atMadison Square Garden.[24]
Right before the launch of NBA Inside Stuff in 1990, Rashad, who was 40 years old at the time, signed a two-day contract with thePhiladelphia 76ers.[25] As the show wanted to use Rashad playing in the NBA as a promotion, he was allowed to practice with the team and play in anNBA preseason game against theMinnesota Timberwolves the next day. Rashad was known for his athleticism, as evidenced by him playing multiple offensive positions in his football career. He became a multi-sport athlete, albeit 8 years after his retirement from pro sports. It was the first preseason game ever to be played at the newly builtTarget Center and was in front of a crowd of 18,296. Many fans came to the game to support Rashad because of his career as a Viking.[25]
He was subbed on forHersey Hawkins and, in the first play of his NBA career, he gave up anand-one shooting foul toTony Campbell. During an ensuing timeout, head coachJim Lynam drew up a play for Rashad to run across thebaseline for an open look. Rashad knocked down the 20-foot shot and scored the first and only points of his NBA career. Remembering the moment in a voiceover, Rashad was ecstatic, "I definitely replayed this one in my head for quite some time. My teammates set me up on the left side, and when everything was on the line, I nailed it."[26] Rashad was not as good defensively, as he allowed Campbell and the Timberwolves to bring an 11-point deficit down to 5. But the 76ers pulled off a 102–96 win, giving Rashad a perfect record in the NBA, as well as a perfect 1.000 FG%, as he technically made every single shot he ever took.[27][28]
After the game, Rashad's performance was applauded by multiple teammates and coaches, includingHall of Fame teammateCharles Barkley. He had previously expressed doubts about Rashad, but said that "he made it, and that's all that matters."Rick Mahorn, another teammate, said "What the hell, his two points really made a difference."[26]
In a post-game interview, Rashad announced his retirement from the game of basketball, and he was waived from the team.
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | Philadelphia | 1 | 0 | 2.5 | 1.000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
Rashad has been married five times and divorced four. He has fathered a total of six children, including a son, Geoffrey Simmons, born to his high school girlfriend Melody Neal. The boy was put up for adoption in 1967. After he turned 18, he contacted his father through Amara (formerly the Medina Adoption Agency) in 2005, and the pair met for the first time. Simmons also had learned that his biological mother, Melody Neal, died from cancer in 1991.[29]
In 1969, Rashad married for the first time, to Deidre Waters. They had a daughter, Keva, born in 1970. That year Rashad also fathered a son, Sean, born to another woman.[29]
After divorcing his first wife, in 1976, Rashad married his second wife, Matilda Johnson. They had two children together, daughter Maiyisha (born in 1976) and son Ahmad Jr. (born in 1978). They divorced in 1979.[29]
In 1985, Rashad married actressPhylicia Ayers-Allen, known for her work onThe Cosby Show. He proposed to her earlier that year on national television during the pregame show ofNBC's broadcast of theThanksgiving Dayfootball game, between theDetroit Lions and theNew York Jets.[30] It was the third marriage for each of them. Rashad gained a stepson Billy Bowles (born 1973 during her first marriage). After a year of marriage, they had a daughter together,Condola Phylea Rashad, named after his mother. In 2001, after nearly sixteen years of marriage, they divorced.[29]
In 2007, Rashad married his fourth wife, Nancy Sale Johnson. (She had divorced fromWoody Johnson,Johnson & Johnson billionaire heir andNew York Jets owner). She brought three daughters to the marriage: Casey Johnson (1979–2010), Jamie Johnson (b. 1982),[31] and Daisy Johnson (b. 1987). After Casey died, the couple adopted her daughter (Sale Johnson's granddaughter), Ava-Monroe Johnson (born August 14, 2006). Rashad and Johnson divorced in 2013.[32]
In 2016, Rashad married Ana Luz Rodriguez-Paz, a psychologist in South Florida.[33]
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by First Host | Host ofTug of Words Season 1 (2021–2022) | Succeeded by Samantha Harris (Season 2) |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
