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| No. 72 | |||||||||
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| Positions | Center Guard Tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1961-09-11)September 11, 1961 (age 64) Yakima, Washington, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 305 lb (138 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Mt. Whitney(Visalia, California) | ||||||||
| College | USC | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1983: 1st round, 26th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Donald Howard Mosebar (born September 11, 1961) is an American former professionalfootball player who was acenter for 13 seasons in theNational Football League (NFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Mosebar was selected in the first round of the1983 NFL draft, and played for the NFL'sLos Angeles Raiders.
Mosebar was born inYakima, Washington, and played high school football forMt. Whitney High School inVisalia, California,[1] guiding them to the Valley championship game as well as a win at the yearly Cow Hide. He playedcollege football for theUSC Trojans,[2] earningConsensus All-American honors as a senior.[3]
Mosebar was chosen by theLos Angeles Raiders as the 26th pick in the first round of the1983 NFL draft,[4][5] just ahead of futureHall of FamerDan Marino. (Team executiveRon Wolf later said "To this day I call him 'Dan'—Dan Mosebar—because we blew Marino, and he knows that.")[6] Mosebar immediately moved into the starting lineup as right guard for two years, before succeeding longtime centerDave Dalby upon his retirement. He was only the third starting center in franchise history; Dalby had inherited the center position fromJim Otto, who in turn had been the center since the team's inception in 1960.
In the 1986–1994 span, the Raiders reached the playoffs 3 times, in 1990, 1991, and 1993, withArt Shell as head coach. In his Raider career, Mosebar went to thePro Bowl three times (1986, 1990, and 1991) and was an All-Pro in 1991. WithSteve Wisniewski (1989–2001) on his left andMax Montoya (1990–1994) on his right, Mosebar anchored a trio of outstanding blockers combining for nine Pro Bowl appearances in the five years they were together (1990–1994), the span which included Mosebar's three years of playoff action.
In the1990 NFL season, Shell's second year as head coach and first full year, and withJay Schroeder as the startingquarterback, Los Angeles scored 337 points (21.1 points/game), 13th of 28 teams in the NFL and had a won-lost record of 12–4, winning the west division title of the AFC. The Raiders had beaten theCincinnati Bengals in their 14th game with 185 rushing yards and now met them in a divisional round of the1990–91 NFL playoffs. Once again, Mosebar, Wisniewski, and Montoya, with tacklesRory Graves andSteve Wright, overwhelmed the Bengals on the ground, this time with 235 yards. In that gameBo Jackson suffered a career-ending hip injury. Without Jackson, and unable to stop the no-huddleBuffalo Bills offense, the Raiders suffered a ridiculous 51–3 defeat in the AFC championship game.
In the1991 NFL season, Los Angeles scored 298 points (18.6 points/game), 15th of 28 teams in the NFL, win a 9–7 record, 3rd in the AFC west but with a wild card slot in the1991–92 NFL playoffs, and playing against theKansas City Chiefs, a game the Raiders lost with the inexperiencedTodd Marinovich at quarterback.
In the1992 NFL season, Los Angeles was out of the playoffs with a 7–9 record, but came back stronger during the1993 NFL season withJeff Hostetler at starting quarterback, scoring 306 points (19.1 points/game), 14th of 28 teams in the NFL and with a 10–6 record, second in the AFC west but with a wild card game in the1993–94 NFL playoffs against theDenver Broncos. With the same interior line as in the 90–91 playoffs, but with two new tackles,Gerald Perry andBruce Wilkerson, the Raiders defeated the Broncos with 427 total yards of offense, but lost to the Bills again the following week, this time in the divisional round
In 1994, Mosebar's final year, the Raiders missed the playoffs. In 1995, the year the Raiders returned to Oakland, after starting every single game from 1990 to 1994, Mosebar suffered a career-ending injury during training camp, due to an inadvertent fist to the eye socket, which ultimately led to theremoval of his left eye . From 1960 to 1994 (35 years), the Raiders fielded only 3 starting centers: Mosebar, Dalby, and Hall-of-FamerJim Otto. In the1995 NFL season, Mosebar was replaced byDan Turk.
Mosebar is married to his longtime wife Tracey, and they have four daughters.[citation needed]