| No. 6 | |||||||||
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| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1962-08-15)August 15, 1962 (age 63) Alexandria, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Neville (Monroe, Louisiana) | ||||||||
| College |
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| NFL draft | 1986: 3rd round, 67th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Walter Andrew "Bubby" Brister III (born August 15, 1962) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL) for thePittsburgh Steelers,Philadelphia Eagles,New York Jets,Denver Broncos, andMinnesota Vikings. He playedcollege football for theTulane Green Wave andNortheast Louisiana Indians before being selected in the third round of the1986 NFL draft by the Steelers.[1]
Brister playedhigh school football inMonroe, Louisiana and enrolled atTulane University inNew Orleans.[2][3] He transferred to Northeast Louisiana University (now known as theUniversity of Louisiana at Monroe) inMonroe in 1984. He was a two-sport athlete and was selected out of high school in the1981 Major League Baseball draft by theDetroit Tigers. He played a season ofminor league baseball with theBristol Tigers inBristol, Virginia before attending college for football.[4]
Brister began 1983 as Tulane's starting quarterback, before being replaced by Jon English and transferring to Northeast Louisiana University.[5][6]
After Brister was selected, almost immediately comparisons were made between him and Steelers greatTerry Bradshaw, who is also from Louisiana. Over the years Pittsburgh sports writers and Steelers fans frequently made jokes about Brister's thickSouthern accent and perceived lack of sophistication, traits of Bradshaw's which were similarly mocked. Brister's name supposedly is a mispronunciation of "brother" and one of his sisters called him it first.[7] In a similar vein to Bradshaw, Brister's name was often misspoken. In a 1999Sports Illustrated interview, Brister said "Bubba Brewster" and "Bobby Blister" were common manglings of his name.
Brister was a backup to Bradshaw's immediate successor,Mark Malone for two seasons, starting two games as a rookie in 1986 and appearing briefly in relief in two games in 1987. In his NFL debut in October 1986, Pittsburgh faced theCincinnati Bengals, their rivals, onMonday Night Football. Although the Steelers lost 24–22, Brister passed for 191 yards and scored a rushing touchdown. He won a three-way competition for the Steelers' starting quarterback job withTodd Blackledge andSteve Bono.
Career highlights during his 1988–1991 run as Pittsburgh's starting quarterback included ranking fourth in the NFL in average yards per pass completion in 1988 and 10th in the league in passer rating in 1990. He had five scoring passes that were 65 yards or longer in 1988, including an 89-yard touchdown toLouis Lipps vs thePhiladelphia Eagles on November 13 that was the longest pass completion by a Steeler inThree Rivers Stadium history. In 1989, he set a team record with 15 consecutive pass completions in a road win over Detroit, including a 48 yarder to Lipps. Brister also set a team record in 1989 throwing 178 consecutive passes without an interception. In 1990 Brister established career highs for starts (16), yards passing (2,725) and touchdown passes (20). He missed eight games with injuries in 1991, setting up a competition with back upNeil O'Donnell for the starting job. Pittsburgh went 5–3 when Brister played, only 2–6 with O'Donnell as a starter. Brister was the starting quarterback during Hall Of Fame CoachChuck Noll's final post season run with the Steelers, winning the 1989 AFC Wild Card in overtime on the road against theHouston Oilers, then losing a close game to eventual AFC championDenver Broncos. He led an 82-yard drive at the end of the fourth quarter to tie the Houston game and force overtime. Against Denver, he passed for 229 yards and one touchdown, with no turnovers.[8]
One of Brister's famous quotes came after a 1991 game between the Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh was getting blown out in the game and coach Chuck Noll wanted to pull starterNeil O'Donnell and replace him with Brister to finish the hopeless game. Brister replied "I don't mop up for anybody."[9] O'Donnell was starting in place of an injured Brister. Even though Brister was not forced to enter that late-season loss against Houston, he did supplant the struggling O'Donnell the next week, starting the team's final two games and winning against Cincinnati and theCleveland Browns.
Brister played for the Steelers for seven years, several of them as the regular starter at quarterback. In 1992, new Steelers head coachBill Cowher chose backup quarterback O'Donnell over Brister, effectively ending his career as a starting player for the Steelers. Still Brister played a significant role in the team's 1992 success. Brister won two games as a starter for an injured O'Donnell against theIndianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns. In the Cleveland game, the Steelers needed to win to clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC Playoffs and Brister passed for 223 yards, 1 touchdown, and no interceptions, and had a string of 11 consecutive pass completions in one stretch. In two other games Brister came off the bench, relieving a struggling O'Donnell after he was hurt and leading fourth-quarter comebacks over theSeattle Seahawks andDetroit Lions.
After brief stops as a backup quarterback for Philadelphia and theNew York Jets, Brister sat out the 1996 season. In his first season in Philadelphia in 1993, Brister ranked seventh in the league in passer rating and fourth in lowest interception percentage, starting 8 games with two relief appearances subbing for an injuredRandall Cunningham. Highlights of the season included his 27 completions, 245 yards, two touchdowns game vs. theSuper Bowl championDallas Cowboys onMonday Night Football, and a 353 yards, three touchdowns performance in the final game of the regular season, again on Monday Night Football, leading the Eagles to a win over theNFC West championSan Francisco 49ers. Brister's interception percentage that year was the lowest in Eagles team history for more than a decade until eclipsed byDonovan McNabb. His former teammate in Philadelphia, linebackerBill Romanowski, had signed with Denver and in 1997 suggested to Broncos head coachMike Shanahan that he take a look at Brister.
Brister signed with Denver and became the third-string quarterback for the 1997 season, backing upHall of Fame quarterbackJohn Elway andJeff Lewis. Brister's only significant playing time in the 1997 season came in a week 17 game against theSan Diego Chargers. before the 1998 season Lewis had fallen out of favor with the Broncos, thus Brister became the primary backup quarterback. During the 1998 season, Elway was forced to sit out a number of games due to injury and Brister started those games in his place. Brister played well and the Broncos went undefeated in his starts (4–0); He also broke the team's (then) record for longest rushing touchdown by a quarterback[10] and recorded a higher passer rating than Elway. However, when Elway retired in 1999, Brister was passed over for the starting spot in favor ofBrian Griese, and the Broncos released him after that season. During his three seasons with the Broncos, Griese won twoSuper Bowl rings.
Brister spent 2000 with the Vikings. He signed with theKansas City Chiefs in 2001 but was cut before the season began. He retired from football. He finished his career with a passing record of 1,207 completions in 2,212 attempts for 14,445 passing yards and 81 touchdowns. Brister played in three conference championship games and two Super Bowls.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Sck | Yds | ||
| 1986 | PIT | 2 | 2 | 0-2 | 21 | 60 | 35.0 | 291 | 4.9 | 58 | 0 | 2 | 37.6 | 6 | 10 | 1.7 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 57 |
| 1987 | PIT | 2 | 0 | 0-0 | 4 | 12 | 33.3 | 20 | 1.7 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| 1988 | PIT | 13 | 13 | 4-9 | 175 | 370 | 47.3 | 2,634 | 7.1 | 89 | 11 | 14 | 65.3 | 45 | 209 | 4.6 | 20 | 6 | 36 | 292 |
| 1989 | PIT | 14 | 14 | 8-6 | 187 | 342 | 54.7 | 2,365 | 6.9 | 79 | 9 | 10 | 73.1 | 27 | 25 | 0.9 | 15 | 0 | 45 | 452 |
| 1990 | PIT | 16 | 16 | 9-7 | 223 | 387 | 57.6 | 2,725 | 7.0 | 90 | 20 | 14 | 81.6 | 25 | 64 | 2.6 | 11 | 0 | 28 | 213 |
| 1991 | PIT | 8 | 8 | 5-3 | 103 | 190 | 54.2 | 1,350 | 7.1 | 65 | 9 | 9 | 72.9 | 11 | 17 | 1.5 | 8 | 0 | 15 | 145 |
| 1992 | PIT | 6 | 4 | 2-2 | 63 | 116 | 54.3 | 719 | 6.2 | 42 | 2 | 5 | 61.0 | 10 | 16 | 1.6 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 88 |
| 1993 | PHI | 10 | 8 | 4-4 | 181 | 309 | 58.6 | 1,905 | 6.2 | 58 | 14 | 5 | 84.9 | 20 | 39 | 2.0 | 13 | 0 | 19 | 148 |
| 1994 | PHI | 7 | 2 | 0-2 | 51 | 76 | 67.1 | 507 | 6.7 | 53 | 2 | 1 | 89.1 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 39 |
| 1995 | NYJ | 9 | 4 | 1-3 | 93 | 170 | 54.7 | 726 | 4.3 | 32 | 4 | 8 | 53.7 | 16 | 18 | 1.1 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 122 |
| 1997 | DEN | 1 | 0 | 0-0 | 6 | 9 | 66.7 | 48 | 5.3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 79.9 | 4 | 2 | 0.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | DEN | 7 | 4 | 4-0 | 78 | 131 | 59.5 | 986 | 7.5 | 48 | 10 | 3 | 99.0 | 19 | 102 | 5.4 | 38 | 1 | 7 | 49 |
| 1999 | DEN | 2 | 0 | 0-0 | 12 | 20 | 60.0 | 87 | 4.4 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 30.6 | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | MIN | 2 | 0 | 0-0 | 10 | 20 | 50.0 | 82 | 4.1 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 40.0 | 5 | 20 | 4.0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Career | 99 | 75 | 37-38 | 1,207 | 2,212 | 54.6 | 14,445 | 6.5 | 90 | 81 | 78 | 72.3 | 191 | 546 | 2.9 | 38 | 8 | 193 | 1,625 | |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Sck | Yds | ||
| 1989 | PIT | 2 | 2 | 1-1 | 34 | 62 | 54.8 | 356 | 5.7 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 77.1 | 3 | 5 | 1.7 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| 1997 | DEN | 1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | DEN | 2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | -3 | -0.4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | MIN | 1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 6 | 2 | 1-1 | 34 | 62 | 54.8 | 356 | 5.7 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 77.1 | 10 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 15 | |
After retiring from football, Brister was a television sports analyst forFox Sports Rocky Mountain for a short time inDenver. In 2003, he became the co-host of a hunting and fishing oriented show calledLouisiana Outdoor Adventures on theOutdoor Channel. In 2005, he joined the staff of Hunter's Specialties, a producer of hunting and fishing adventure videos. Brister lives inMandeville, Louisiana with his wife and two children.[11][12]