 O'Brienc. 1938 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 8 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1917-06-22)June 22, 1917 Dallas, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | November 18, 1977(1977-11-18) (aged 60) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 151 lb (68 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Woodrow Wilson (Dallas, Texas) | ||||||||||||||
| College | TCU (1936–1938) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1939: 1st round, 4th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Robert David O'Brien (June 22, 1917 – November 18, 1977) was an American professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL) with thePhiladelphia Eagles for two seasons. He playedcollege football for theTCU Horned Frogs, where he won theHeisman Trophy[1] and theMaxwell Award in 1938, the first quarterback to win either.[2] He was the fourth overall pick of the1939 NFL draft. O'Brien was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1955.
Since 1981, theDavey O'Brien Award is given annually to the best quarterback in college football.
Born inDallas, Texas, O'Brien playedhigh school football at itsWoodrow Wilson High School. He was an All-State selection and led the high school to the Texas state playoffs in 1932.[3]
O'Brien played college football at nearby TCU inFort Worth in1935 as a backup forSammy Baugh. He became the starter in1937, and was named to the first-team All-Southwest Conference.[3]
In1938, O'Brien threw for 1,457 yards – a Southwest Conference passing record that stood for ten years. He had only four interceptions in 194 attempts, and hisNCAA record for most rushing and passing plays in a single season still stands today.[3][dead link] That season, he led theHorned Frogs to an undefeated season. They outscored their opponents by a 269–60 margin and held nine of their ten regular-season opponents to seven points or fewer, including three shutouts.[3] TCU finished the season with a 15–7 victory overCarnegie Tech in theSugar Bowl and anational championship.[3] O’Brien was named to 13All-America teams and became the first player to win the Heisman and Maxwell awards in the same year. He was the first Heisman winner from TCU and the Southwest Conference.[3] Off the field, he was also an honorary memberSigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Texas Gamma chapter. He majored ingeology and expressed little interest in pro football in January 1939.[2][4]
| Season | Team | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | TCU | 96 | 237 | 40.5 | 947 | 5 |
| 1938 | TCU | 93 | 166 | 56.0 | 1,457 | 19 |
O'Brien was selected in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the1939 NFL draft, held in December 1938.[5] He was selected by thePhiladelphia Eagles, and ownerBert Bell gave him a $12,000 bonus and a two-year contract, and he signed with the team in March.[6] O'Brien became the first Heisman trophy winner to play in the NFL.
In his rookie season in the NFL in1939, O'Brien led the league in passing with 1,324 yards in 11 games,[7] breaking his old TCU teammate Sammy Baugh's single season passing yardage record, but the Eagles finished at 1–9–1. After anappendectomy in late June,[8] he again led the league in several passing categories in1940, including attempts and completions.[7][9]
Despite O'Brien's efforts, Philadelphia lost their first nine games and finished at 1–10, last in the ten-team league. The Eagles offered O'Brien a $2,000 raise for 1941,[3][10] but he retired after the 1940 season to take a government job.[11]
In his professional career, O'Brien completed 223 of 478 passes for 2,614 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was also adefensive back andpunter,intercepted four passes for 92 yards and punted nine times for an average of 40.7 yards per kick.[7]
After two seasons with the Eagles, O'Brien retired from football to become an agent in theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),[10] where he worked for ten years. After completing his training, he was assigned to the bureau's field office inSpringfield, Missouri. He was a firearms instructor atQuantico, Virginia, and spent the last five years of his FBI career in Dallas.[3] He resigned from the bureau in 1950 and went to work forH. L. Hunt in land development. O'Brien later entered the oil business, working forDresser Atlas Industries of Dallas[3] and was an adviser toLamar Hunt during the founding of theAmerican Football League.[12]
O'Brien was also president of the TCU Alumni Association, aYMCA board member, a chair of theTarrant CountyDemocratic Party, a supporter ofGolden Gloves youth boxing programs, and a deacon of University Christian Church. He was elected to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1955 and theTexas Sports Hall of Fame in 1956. From 1960 to 1964, he was thecolor commentator onDallas Cowboys telecasts.
In 1971, O'Brien was diagnosed withcancer and underwent surgery to remove akidney and part of his rightlung, but eventually died from the disease on November 18, 1977.[3]
WhenTim Brown won the Heisman Trophy in 1987, it made Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas the distinction of being the first to produce two Heisman winners.[13]
In 1989, O'Brien (posthumously) and Brown were inducted together into Woodrow Wilson High School's newly created Hall of Fame in celebration of the school's 60th anniversary.[citation needed]
