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 Tripuckac. 1948–52 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 28, 8, 11, 18, 91, 82, 83, 24 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1927-12-08)December 8, 1927 Bloomfield, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | September 12, 2013(2013-09-12) (aged 85) Woodland Park, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 192 lb (87 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Bloomfield | ||||||||||||||
| College | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1949: 1st round, 9th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Francis Joseph Tripucka[1] (December 8, 1927 – September 12, 2013) was an American professionalfootballquarterback who played for 15 seasons. He spent four seasons in theNational Football League (NFL), eight in theCanadian Football League (CFL), and four inAmerican Football League (AFL).[b]
Tripucka achieved his greatest success as the inaugural quarterback of the AFL'sDenver Broncos from 1960 to 1963. During Denver's inaugural year, Tripucka became the first NFL / AFL quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. He also receivedAll-Star honors after leading the league in receiving yards in 1962. Tripucka was inducted to theBroncos Ring of Fame in 1986.
The 6–2, 172-pound Tripucka was a three-time letter-winner at Notre Dame. His first two seasons, he played backup quarterback toHeisman Trophy winnerJohnny Lujack on unbeaten Notre Dame squads in 1946 and 1947. As a freshman backup in 1945, he completed his only pass for 19 yards, and carried twice for eight yards. In 1946, as a sophomore, he hit one of his five throws for 19 yards in relief on the national championship squad. He took approximately 1/4 ofFrank Leahy's1947 squad's pass attempts, connecting on 25 of 44 throws for 422 yards, three TDs, and one interception and a remarkablepasser rating of 155.3, and helping the Irish to a second consecutive national championship. With Lujack's graduation, Tripucka became the undisputedstarter hissenior year. He completed 53 of 91 for 660 yards and a school-record 11 touchdowns,en route to a 9-0-1 record and the Irish's 3rd consecutive season without a loss. A tie againstUSC in the final game bumped them down to No. 2 behind undefeatedMichigan. He played in the college All-Star Game that year.[2]
Tripucka went on to become a first-round selection (ninth overall pick) by the Philadelphia Eagles in the1949 NFL draft, but was traded during the preseason to the Detroit Lions. He had four starts his rookie season, compiling a mediocre 9 touchdowns to 14 interceptions; he was also used as a punter 28 times. In 1950, he played for theChicago Cardinals, where he had four passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in relief ofJim Hardy, including a 65 and an 81-yard touchdown pass in game 5 againstWashington.[3] In 1951, he had just 29 attempts in 1 start for the Cardinals, and only 12 attempts in six games in 1952 before being traded to theDallas Texans mid-season. There, he started all six games, but had just 3 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, and a 1–5 record. The Dallas Texans folded after one season, so Tripucka accepted a large contract for the time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of theCanadian Football League (CFL).
Tripucka then took a seven-year run in the CFL. He joined theSaskatchewan Roughriders and their new coachFrank Filchock as the starting quarterback in 1953. He played there through 1958, when he was traded to theOttawa Rough Riders but struggled and was released. He was back in Saskatchewan before the end of the 1959 season as a coach. Non-Canadians playing Canadian professional football were known asimports, and each team was limited to 12. These spots were filled, so Coach Tripucka was ineligible to play. However, in the fourteenth game of the season, all three Roughrider quarterbacks were sidelined by injuries. For the last two games, management decided to play Tripucka anyway, and forfeit in advance. The Roughriders lost the first of them on the scoreboard as well, 20-19 versus theEdmonton Eskimos. But in the last game of the season againstBud Grant'sWinnipeg Blue Bombers, Tripucka had 17 completions in 29 passes and Ferdy Burket ran for five touchdowns. Officially, the final score was Saskatchewan 37, Winnipeg 30 for a Winnipeg "victory".[4]
After getting fired by Saskatchewan, Tripucka came out of retirement with theAmerican Football League (AFL) as the starting quarterback for the new Denver Broncos franchise. The Broncos had hired Filchock as their coach, and he initially brought Tripucka along as an assistant. He started all 14 games inDenver's inaugural 1960 season, and though he led the league in interceptions in 1960 with 34 (still a Broncos franchise record), he also led the league with 248 of 478 passes for 3,038 yards (the first 3000+ yard season by either an NFL or AFL quarterback), to go with 24 touchdowns, including the first TD pass in AFL history.[5] He started 11 games in1961, throwing for 1,690 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions. In1962, he again led the league with 240 completions, 440 attempts, and 2,917 yards. This included a week 2 victory over Buffalo, in which Tripucka threw for a remarkable 447 yards, a franchise record that stood for 38 years.[6][7] On the season, he totaled 17 touchdowns and 25 interceptions, and was selected for the AFL's All Star game for the only time in his career. In hislast season, Tripucka had just 7 completions for 31 yards in two games. He returned to Saskatchewan in his final season to be the back up to Ron Lancaster and finished the season with 38 completions for 435 yards.
Tripucka retired in 1963 after 15 professional seasons. The Broncos subsequently retired his #18 jersey. In 1986, Tripucka was one of three players to be inducted into theDenver Broncos Ring of Fame. On March 9, 2012, Tripucka stated that he would allow #18 to be worn again byPeyton Manning if the Broncos were to sign him. On March 20, 2012, at a press conference announcing his signing by the Broncos,John Elway thanked Tripucka "for allowing the franchise to ‘borrow’ the number for Manning."[8] On March 7, 2016, the #18 jersey returned to retirement when Manning announced that he was retiring after 18 professional seasons (4 seasons with the Broncos).[9]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
| Underline | Incomplete data |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Punting | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Pnt | Yds | Avg | Lng | ||
| 1949 | DET | 6 | 4 | — | 62 | 145 | 42.8 | 833 | 5.7 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 36 | 3.0 | 18 | 1 | 28 | 1,074 | 38.4 | 50 |
| 1950 | CC | 10 | 4 | 2–2–0 | 47 | 108 | 43.5 | 720 | 6.7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 | 21 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 1951 | CC | 3 | 1 | 1–0–0 | 17 | 29 | 58.6 | 244 | 8.4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 14 | 0 | 11 | 429 | 39.0 | 56 |
| 1952 | CC | 6 | 1 | 0–1–0 | 5 | 12 | 41.7 | 40 | 3.3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | -3 | 0 | 31 | 1,155 | 37.3 | 65 |
| DT | 6 | 6 | 1–5–0 | 86 | 174 | 49.4 | 769 | 4.4 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 28 | 3.1 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 167 | 41.8 | 65 | |
| 1960 | DEN | 14 | 14 | 4–9–1 | 248 | 478 | 51.9 | 3,038 | 6.4 | 24 | 34 | 10 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 1961 | DEN | 14 | 11 | 3–8–0 | 167 | 344 | 48.5 | 1,690 | 4.9 | 10 | 21 | 4 | -8 | -2.0 | — | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 1962 | DEN | 14 | 13 | 6–7–0 | 240 | 440 | 54.5 | 2,917 | 6.6 | 17 | 25 | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 1963 | DEN | 2 | 2 | 0–2–0 | 7 | 15 | 46.7 | 31 | 2.1 | 0 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 75 | 56 | 17–34–1 | 879 | 1,745 | 50.4 | 10,282 | 5.9 | 69 | 124 | 43 | 101 | 2.3 | 21 | 6 | 74 | 2,825 | 38.2 | 65 | |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Punting | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Pnt | Yds | Avg | Lng | ||
| 1953 | SASK | 4 | 4 | — | 59 | 94 | 62.8 | 703 | 7.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | -77 | -15.4 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 1,463 | 47.2 | 76 |
| 1954 | SASK | 14 | — | — | 152 | 259 | 58.7 | 2,003 | 7.7 | 14 | 14 | 25 | -125 | -5.0 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 686 | 42.9 | 55 |
| 1955 | SASK | 16 | 16 | 10–6–0 | 158 | 257 | 61.5 | 2,306 | 9.0 | 11 | 17 | 36 | -155 | -4.3 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 242 | 34.6 | 58 |
| 1956 | SASK | 16 | 16 | 10–6–0 | 216 | 383 | 56.4 | 3,274 | 8.5 | 18 | 22 | 31 | -138 | -4.5 | 9 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 1957 | SASK | 16 | 16 | 3–12–1 | 172 | 343 | 50.1 | 2,589 | 7.5 | 12 | 29 | 29 | -95 | -3.3 | 9 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 1958 | SASK | 13 | — | — | 189 | 338 | 55.9 | 2,766 | 8.2 | 20 | 27 | 26 | -58 | -2.2 | 9 | 0 | 19 | 936 | 49.3 | 80 |
| 1959 | OTT | 8 | 3 | — | 79 | 145 | 54.5 | 1,119 | 7.7 | 4 | 14 | 3 | -3 | -1.0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 2,057 | 39.6 | 58 |
| SASK | 2 | 0 | — | 27 | 45 | 60.0 | 311 | 6.9 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | |
| 1963 | SASK | 7 | 0 | — | 38 | 66 | 57.6 | 435 | 6.6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | -8 | -2.0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 185 | 46.2 | 651 |
| Career | 89 | 55 | 23–24–1 | 1,090 | 1,930 | 56.5 | 15,506 | 8.0 | 87 | 136 | 162 | -656 | -4.0 | 9 | 5 | 129 | 5,569 | 43.2 | 80 | |
Tripucka is the father of formerNotre Dame andDetroit Pistons basketball starKelly Tripucka, who also played for the Utah Jazz and the Charlotte Hornets.[5] All six sons playedDivision I sports (his daughter Heather was also a very good athlete). The oldest boy, Tracy, played basketball atLafayette College and then professionally in Switzerland. Mark was a quarterback at theUniversity of Massachusetts. Todd also played basketball at Lafayette College and broke many of his older brother Tracy's records. T.K., the tallest of the Tripucka boys at 6'9", played basketball atFordham University. He also played one season under his brother Tracy, who took over as the Fordham head coach. On one unique night, Fordham played Notre Dame atMadison Square Garden, so T.K. played against his Notre Dame freshman brother Kelly, with oldest brother Tracy coaching Fordham. Kelly was an All-American at Notre Dame and then had an excellent 10-year career in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, and Charlotte Hornets. Kelly was a two-time NBA All-Star. Chris, the youngest of the family, played quarterback, wide receiver, and kicker at Boston College, all with Heisman Trophy winnerDoug Flutie.
Tripucka is also the grandfather of punter Shane Tripucka (Chris' son) and[10] former NFL long snapperTravis Tripucka,[11] and former professional lacrosse player Jake Tripucka[12] (both Kelly's sons). Shane played for the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2018 NFL preseason, averaging 45.5 yards per punt. He played for the XFL LA Wildcats in 2020. Shane was also a First-team All-American and All-SEC punter at Texas A&M where he set several punting records.
Tripucka died ofcongestive heart failure on September 12, 2013, at his home inWoodland Park, New Jersey, aged 85.[13]
In 1997, Tripucka was inducted into theNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.[1]