| No. 10, 14 | |||||||||||||
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| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1947-06-22)June 22, 1947 (age 78) Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 225 lb (102 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | El Dorado (KS) | ||||||||||||
| College | Kansas | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1969: 2nd round, 41st overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Robert Gilchrist Douglass (born June 22, 1947) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL), primarily with theChicago Bears. He playedcollege football for theKansas Jayhawks before being selected by the Bears in the second round of the1969 NFL/AFL draft. During his career, he also played for theSan Diego Chargers, theNew Orleans Saints, and theGreen Bay Packers. Douglass retired after the 1978 season, after playing 10 seasons in the NFL.
Douglass was raised inEl Dorado, Kansas, where his father was a football coach.[1]
Playing at the University of Kansas, Douglass was a two-time All-Big Eight Conference (1967–68) selection and an All-American in 1968. During his senior season, he directed the Jayhawks to a 9–2 record, a share of the Big Eight Conference title and a spot in the 1969 Orange Bowl. He passed for 1,316 yards and 12 touchdowns during his final year as a Jayhawk and finished seventh in theHeisman Trophy voting that season.[2]
Career statistics
| Season | Team | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||||
| Kansas Jayhawks | |||||||||||||||
| 1966 | Kansas | 17 | 38 | 44.7 | 175 | 4.6 | 1 | 3 | 76.3 | 72 | 105 | 1.5 | 0 | ||
| 1967 | Kansas | 82 | 173 | 47.4 | 1,326 | 7.7 | 7 | 11 | 112.4 | 175 | 415 | 2.4 | 7 | ||
| 1968 | Kansas | 84 | 168 | 50.0 | 1,316 | 7.8 | 12 | 6 | 132.2 | 148 | 495 | 3.3 | 12 | ||
| Career | 183 | 379 | 48.3 | 2,817 | 7.4 | 20 | 20 | 117.6 | 395 | 1,015 | 2.6 | 19 | |||
In 1972, playing for theChicago Bears, Douglass set the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in one season. The record stood for 34 years. In a 14-game1972 season, he ran for 968 yards and 8touchdowns on 141 carries. Six quarterbacks (three in the CFL, three in the NFL) have since run for over 1,000 yards. With Douglass starting, the Chicago Bears had a 13–31–1 record.[3]
In a November 4, 1973 game against the Packers, Douglass ran for four touchdowns in a 31–17 win. He andBilly Kilmer are the only quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for four touchdowns in a single game.
In five seasons from 1971 to 1975, Douglass played in 47 games and amassed 2,040 rushing yards. During that span, he averaged 43.4 rushing yards per game played—the third highest rushing yards per game average over a five-season span for a quarterback. (Michael Vick ranks first with 54.1 yards per game over a five-year span from 2002 to 2006). However, Douglass had little success as a passer, going 507-for-1178 for 36 touchdowns and 64interceptions with a quarterbackpasser rating of only 48.5 during his 10-season NFL career.
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 1969 | CHI | 11 | 7 | 1−6 | 68 | 148 | 45.9 | 773 | 5.2 | 5 | 8 | 50.9 | 51 | 408 | 8.0 | 2 |
| 1970 | CHI | 3 | 1 | 1−0 | 12 | 30 | 40.0 | 218 | 7.3 | 4 | 3 | 65.7 | 7 | 22 | 3.1 | 0 |
| 1971 | CHI | 12 | 7 | 3−4 | 91 | 225 | 40.4 | 1,164 | 5.2 | 5 | 15 | 37.0 | 39 | 284 | 7.3 | 3 |
| 1972 | CHI | 14 | 14 | 4−9−1 | 75 | 198 | 37.9 | 1,246 | 6.3 | 9 | 12 | 49.8 | 141 | 968 | 6.9 | 8 |
| 1973 | CHI | 13 | 12 | 3−9 | 81 | 174 | 46.6 | 1,057 | 6.1 | 5 | 7 | 59.0 | 94 | 525 | 5.6 | 5 |
| 1974 | CHI | 7 | 3 | 1−2 | 41 | 100 | 41.0 | 387 | 3.9 | 2 | 4 | 42.4 | 36 | 229 | 6.4 | 1 |
| 1975 | CHI | 1 | 1 | 0−1 | 8 | 20 | 40.0 | 87 | 4.4 | 0 | 2 | 14.0 | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 1 |
| SD | 3 | 0 | — | 7 | 27 | 25.9 | 53 | 2.0 | 0 | 1 | 24.2 | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | 0 | |
| 1976 | NO | 11 | 6 | 2−4 | 103 | 213 | 48.4 | 1,288 | 6.0 | 4 | 8 | 58.2 | 21 | 92 | 4.4 | 2 |
| 1977 | NO | 4 | 2 | 1−1 | 16 | 31 | 51.6 | 130 | 4.2 | 1 | 3 | 33.7 | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 0 |
| 1978 | GB | 12 | 0 | — | 5 | 12 | 41.7 | 90 | 7.5 | 1 | 1 | 61.1 | 4 | 27 | 6.8 | 0 |
| Career | 91 | 53 | 16−36−1 | 507 | 1,178 | 43.0 | 6,493 | 5.5 | 36 | 64 | 48.5 | 410 | 2,654 | 6.5 | 22 | |
After his professional football career was over, Douglass briefly played minor league baseball in theChicago White Sox organization. In 1980, he pitched four games for theIowa Oaks where he had 7 innings pitched, issued 13 walks and failed to record a strikeout.[4]
Douglass was married to formerPlayboy modelCarol O'Neal. They had three children together and he adopted her two sons from a previous marriage.[5]
Douglass was arrested on charges of trespassing on April 13, 2011.[6]