 Biletnikoff in 1961 | |||||||||
| No. 14, 25 | |||||||||
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| Position | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1943-02-23)February 23, 1943 (age 82) Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Technical Memorial (Erie, Pennsylvania) | ||||||||
| College | Florida State (1962–1964) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1965: 3rd round, 39th overall pick | ||||||||
| AFL draft | 1965: 2nd round, 11th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
Playing | |||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career AFL/NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Frederick Biletnikoff (born February 23, 1943) is an American former professionalfootball player and coach. He played as awide receiver for theOakland Raiders in theAmerican Football League (AFL) andNational Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons and later was an assistant coach with the team. He retired as an NFL player after the 1978 season then played one more season in theCanadian Football League (CFL) for theMontreal Alouettes in 1980. While he lacked the breakaway speed to be a deep-play threat, Biletnikoff was one of the most sure-handed and consistent receivers of his day with a propensity for making spectacular catches. He was also known for running smooth, precisepass routes. He is a member of both thePro Football Hall of Fame (1988) andCollege Football Hall of Fame (1991).
Biletnikoff attendedFlorida State University, where he playedcollege football for theFlorida State Seminoles football team and earned consensusAll-American honors after leading the country in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns as a senior. TheFred Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the most outstanding receiver inNCAA Division I FBS, is named in his honor.
Through his AFL and NFL career, Biletnikoff had 589 receptions for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns and had a then-league-record 10 straight seasons of 40 or more receptions during a time when teams emphasized running over passing. With the Raiders, Biletnikoff played in the second AFL-NFL World Championship game—retroactively known asSuper Bowl II—and inSuper Bowl XI, in which he was namedthe game's MVP in a victory over theMinnesota Vikings. A four-timePro Bowl selection, he also played twoAFL All-Star games, threeAFL title games and fiveAFC championship games.
Biletnikoff was born and raised inErie, Pennsylvania,[1] the son of Natalie (Karuba) and Ephriam Biletnikoff. All four of his grandparents were Russian immigrants.[2][3] In Erie, Biletnikoff attended what was then Technical Memorial High School, nowErie High School, whose athletic field now bears his name. In high school, Biletnikoff excelled in football, basketball, baseball, and track.[4] He was a championhigh jumper and earned All-City honors in basketball and baseball.[5] His younger brother Bob was a startingquarterback for theMiami Hurricanes in the mid-1960s.[6]
Biletnikoff turned down other notable offers to attendFlorida State University inTallahassee. He missed several games during his first varsity season in1962 with a broken foot. He played on both sides of the ball his junior season, leading the team in receptions and interceptions. That year, he returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown off a pass thrown byGeorge Mira of theMiami Hurricanes, a record which stood until 1987, whenDeion Sanders broke it by one yard.[7] As a senior in 1964, Biletnikoff led the nation with 1,179 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, and finished second in receptions (70) and scoring (90).[8] One of his touchdowns came in the first quarter against theFlorida Gators, which helped the Seminoles earn their first victory inthe in-state rivalry, 16–7.[9] The Seminoles finished the year with a 36–19 victory overOklahoma in theGator Bowl, in which Biletnikoff set school records with 13 receptions for 194 yards and four touchdowns.[10] He was a consensus pick for the1964 College Football All-America Team, receiving first-team honors from four official selectors: theAssociated Press,[11]Central Press Association,[12]Football Writers Association of America,[13] andNewspaper Enterprise Association.[14] He was Florida State's first consensus All-American in football.[10] Biletnikoff compiled 100 receptions for 1,655 yards and 20 touchdowns in his career with the Seminoles, which at the time were all school records.[8] While in college Fred also joined theLambda Chi Alpha fraternity.[15] At the end of the third quarter of the January 1st 1965 Gator Bowl, Oakland Raiders coach Al Davis left the pressbox for a position behind the FSU bench. He expected to sign Biletnikoff who the Raiders had drafted in second round of the 1965 AFL draft as soon as the game ended. Lou Creekmur, scout for the Detroit Lions, who owned the NFL rights to Biletnikoff, asked, "No chance for Detroit, Fred?" "No, sir, I've decided to sign with Oakland," replied Fred. The instant the game ended, Davis got the wide receiver's signature on a contract.
After graduating from FSU, he was selected by theOakland Raiders in the second round of the1965 AFL draft, 11th overall and by theDetroit Lions in the third round of the1965 NFL draft, the 39th overall selection. Biletnikoff signed with the Raiders, where he played for fourteen seasons. With Oakland, he was nicknamed "Coyote", and "Doctor Zhivago" because of his Russian heritage.[16] In1966, he caught his first touchdown pass, thrown by quarterbackTom Flores, who later became the Raiders' head coach the season after Biletnikoff was released by the team.[17]
Although he lacked the breakaway speed to be a deep threat, Biletnikoff's precise pass routes and sure hands made him one of the most consistent receivers of his day,[18] and a favorite target of Raiders quarterbacksDaryle Lamonica andKen Stabler. "I like catching passes", he explained. "And I like playing outside. I would be lost if I were ever told to do anything on a football field except catch passes."[19] Through his career he recorded 589 receptions, and had a league record 10 straight seasons of 40 or more receptions from 1967 to 1976,[20] since surpassed by many players. Following the retirement ofCharley Taylor, Biletnikoff spent the 1978 season (his last) as the NFL's active leader in career receiving yards, and retired ranked 5th all-time.[21]
Biletnikoff popularized the use ofStickum,[22] an adhesive that many players applied to their hands to assist with catching and gripping the ball. He would apply the substance all over his body and uniform prior to a game, a practice that was later picked up by Raiders cornerbackLester Hayes after Biletnikoff introduced him to it.[23][24] The use of Stickum was banned by the NFL in 1981.[25]
In his rookie season, Biletnikoff played primarily onspecial teams. He did not see playing time on offense until the seventh game of the year, against theBoston Patriots, in which he caught seven passes for 118 yards.[26][27] His production increased significantly with Oakland's acquisition of quarterbackDaryle Lamonica in1967. That year, he caught 40 passes for 876 yards and five touchdowns and led the league with an average of 21.9 yards per reception. He was invited to play in the 1967AFL All-Star Game.[28] Inthat year's AFL championship game, Biletnikoff had two receptions for 19 yards in the Raiders' 40–7 blow-out win over theHouston Oilers.[29] InSuper Bowl II against theGreen Bay Packers, he caught two passes for 10 yards as the Raiders were defeated 33–14.[30]
Biletnikoff recorded his only 1,000-yard receiving season in 1968, when he caught 61 passes for 1,037 yards and six touchdowns. The following season, in 1969 he caught a career-high 12 receiving touchdowns. He was an AFL All-Star for the second time and earned first-team All-AFL honors from theAssociated Press, theNewspaper Enterprise Association,Pro Football Writers of America,The Sporting News,Pro Football Weekly, and theNew YorkDaily News.[28] The AFL merged into the National Football League in 1970. In his first five seasons in the NFL, Biletnikoff was invited to fourPro Bowls.[31]
A highly productive receiver in the postseason, Biletnikoff left the NFL as the all-time leader in postseason receptions (70), receiving yards (1,167), and receiving touchdowns (10) accumulated over 19 postseason games.[26] He recorded over 100 receiving yards in a postseason five times.[28] In the1968 American Football League playoffs, he had 14 receptions for 370 yards and four touchdowns through two games. In the1976–77 NFL playoffs, Biletnikoff recorded 13 receptions for 216 yards and a touchdown. This included four catches for 79 yards to set up three Oakland scores in the Raiders' 32–14 victory inSuper Bowl XI, for which he was namedSuper Bowl MVP.[32]
Biletnikoff was released by the Raiders prior to the 1979 season.[17] After a year off, he played one season in theCanadian Football League for theMontreal Alouettes in1980. In his lone CFL season, Biletnikoff caught 38 passes, second-most on the team, for 470 yards and four touchdowns.[33]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Super Bowl MVP | |
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | Fum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Y/R | Lng | TD | |||
| 1965 | OAK | 14 | 8 | 24 | 331 | 13.8 | 53 | 0 | 0 |
| 1966 | OAK | 10 | 7 | 17 | 272 | 16.0 | 78 | 3 | 2 |
| 1967 | OAK | 14 | 9 | 40 | 876 | 21.9 | 72 | 5 | 1 |
| 1968 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 61 | 1,037 | 17.0 | 82 | 6 | 0 |
| 1969 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 54 | 837 | 15.5 | 53 | 12 | 1 |
| 1970 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 45 | 768 | 17.1 | 51 | 7 | 0 |
| 1971 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 61 | 929 | 15.2 | 49 | 9 | 1 |
| 1972 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 58 | 802 | 13.8 | 39 | 7 | 0 |
| 1973 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 48 | 660 | 13.8 | 32 | 4 | 0 |
| 1974 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 42 | 593 | 14.1 | 46 | 7 | 0 |
| 1975 | OAK | 11 | 10 | 43 | 587 | 13.7 | 26 | 2 | 0 |
| 1976 | OAK | 13 | 13 | 43 | 551 | 12.8 | 32 | 7 | 0 |
| 1977 | OAK | 14 | 14 | 33 | 446 | 13.5 | 44 | 5 | 1 |
| 1978 | OAK | 16 | 2 | 20 | 285 | 14.3 | 49 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | 190 | 161 | 589 | 8,974 | 15.2 | 82 | 76 | 6 | |
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Y/R | Lng | TD | ||
| 1967 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 7.3 | 10 | 0 |
| 1968 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 14 | 370 | 26.4 | 57 | 4 |
| 1969 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 3 | 70 | 23.3 | 31 | 2 |
| 1970 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 8 | 138 | 17.3 | 38 | 2 |
| 1972 | OAK | 1 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 9.3 | 12 | 0 |
| 1973 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 8 | 0 |
| 1974 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 11 | 167 | 15.2 | 27 | 1 |
| 1975 | OAK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 1976 | OAK | 3 | 3 | 13 | 216 | 16.6 | 48 | 1 |
| 1977 | OAK | 2 | 2 | 11 | 126 | 11.5 | 18 | 0 |
| Career | 19 | 18 | 70 | 1,167 | 16.7 | 57 | 10 | |
Biletnikoff began his career in coaching soon after his retirement from playing. He served on the coaching staff ofOrange Glen High School (1982),Palomar College (1983),Diablo Valley College (1984),Oakland Invaders (1985),Arizona Wranglers (1986), andCalgary Stampeders (1987–88). In 1989, Biletnikoff became wide receivers coach for the Oakland Raiders, a position he held until 2007.[34]
In February 1999, Biletnikoff's daughter Tracey was found strangled to death at age 20 inRedwood City, California.[35] Tracey's boyfriend, Mohammed Haroon Ali, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2012 after admitting he strangled her with a T-shirt at a drug and alcohol treatment center during an argument over whether he had relapsed.[36] He was sentenced to 55 years to life imprisonment. Biletnikoff called Ali an "animal" after the sentencing and said his hatred for him would never go away.[37] In 2015, Biletnikoff founded Tracey's Place of Hope inLoomis, California, a shelter for domestic violence victims and substance abuse treatment for females ages 14 to 18.[38][39]
Biletnikoff was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.[26] In 1999, Biletnikoff was ranked number 94 onThe Sporting News' list of the "100 Greatest Football Players".[40] He was voted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1991. TheFred Biletnikoff Award, awarded annually by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation to the nation's outstanding receiver inNCAA Division I FBS since 1994, is named in his honor.[41] In 2016, Biletnikoff was named theWalter Camp Man of the Year by theWalter Camp Football Foundation in recognition of his public service and his contributions to football.[39]
