"So it was a great lesson for me. (Birmingham News file) In the 1980s,. Add to that the fact that, back in those days, only one team from each region made the state playoffs. "They do a great job of keeping us involved in what's going on and keeping us involved with the fans. I bought them last week. Rutledge led Montgomery Bell Academy to a 41-17 record from 20022006, with two state titles in 2002 and 2003 and a #15 ranking in the final USA Today Super 25 poll in 2003. The other day, Rutledge called his wife and told her to wait. And I don't know when that will be.'' PI Financial sued over unauthorized $1.5M withdrawal Probably, Tony Nathan never would have gone on to play for Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama, and without him, it's possible the Crimson Tide might not have won that 1978 AP national championship. So it's tough for her to hear that she should wait. (Linebacker) Barry Krauss could play today. He would just tear it off and throw it up in the crowd. And the majority of us did that. "That's why, for two years, we had a lot of focus and attention on Woodlawn. Tony started playing pickup basketball games with some older boys in the neighborhood, and he was good enough that he was recruited to play in a rec league at Huffman Park. Efforts to reach him for this story were unsuccessful. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? The kids are disappointed. (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). "It was a culmination of really four years of building up to that point," Woodlawn quarterback Denny Ragland remembers. Since then, Rutledge has been mostly a backup. And to himself. "I did accept Christ in my life at that time, they say," Nathan says. After Thursday morning's practice, the Giants will leave for their annual welcome-home lunch at the Sheraton Centre. Jeff Rutledge III - Facebook "That was neat, that she had just come up (for the game), not knowing anything that was going to happen years later," Rutledge says. They came out in such numbers that the start of the game had to be delayed twice so folks could work their way through the jammed Legion Field turnstiles. Meanwhile, the recruiting letters continued to pour in from schools such as USC, Notre Dame, Texas and Oklahoma, as well as SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. Rutledge, first, and then Stan Humphries were knocked out of the game, leaving emergency quarterback Brian Mitchell (a kick returner and former college quarterback) to finish the game. I still get chills thinking about it.". Rutledge is a Christian and attends Arizona Community Church in Chandler. "The touchdown was a busted play," he recalls. The next year, Nathan and Rutledge became teammates at the University of Alabama. The four of them -- Baumhower, Nathan, Stephenson and McNeal -- played in two Super Bowls together, but the Dolphins lost both games, to the Redskins in Super Bowl XVII and the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX. (Birmingham News file/Robert Adams). "And when they were picking teams, I wanted to get picked. Simms is the Giants' starter and Jeff Hostetler is No. UNEASY LIES THE HEAD OF NO. 3 QUARTERBACK - The New York Times So the magic from that night continues to live on. After the Tide slipped to an uncharacteristic 9-3 in Nathan's sophomore season -- Alabama's worst record in his four years there -- the team bounced back to go 11-1 and finish runner-up to national champs Notre Dame in 1977 and to go 11-1 again and win it all in 1978. Jeffery Joseph Rutledge | Obituaries | koamnewsnow.com See also [ edit] Rule 5 draft results References [ edit] ", Tony Nathan is joined by his wife, Johnnie, and his daughters Nichole, Natalie and Nadia at his induction into the Miami Dolphins Walk of Fame in 2014. Among those 42,000 who came to watch was a freshman sorority girl from the University of Alabama, who was there not because she had any allegiance to either team but just because she heard it was a big game and she wanted to see it and be a part of it. American football player and coach (born 1957), Alabama Crimson Tide starting quarterbacks, Washington Commanders starting quarterbacks, 1978 Alabama Crimson Tide footballAP national champions, Alabama Crimson Tide football yearly statistical leaders, History of the New York Giants (19791993), "High School Football Database - All-American (Parade 1974)", "Jeff Rutledge Named as Football Head Coach - Valley Christian High School", "NFL vet Rutledge returning as high school coach", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeff_Rutledge&oldid=1134094507, High school football coaches in Tennessee, Coaches of American football from Alabama, Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama, Articles with dead external links from October 2010, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 00:15. It wasn't anything boastful for him. . One of them said on the phone, 'What did you get me?' As a senior, he was a member of the 1974 Parade High School All-American team. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). He was a two-time all-state guard on the Woodlawn basketball team, and as a centerfielder and first baseman on the baseball team, he got drafted by the Montreal Expos. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. In April 2010, Rutledge agreed to become the head football coach at Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee; where he coached for two seasons, leading the Knights to a 4-18 record. ", Woodlawn's Tony Nathan ran for 112 yards and scored a touchdown in the 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game, but Banks linebacker Greg Muse was all over him all night long. Menu Log In Sign Up From his perch in the press box, Birmingham News sportswriter Wayne Martin could see the pedestrian bottleneck at the south entrance of Legion Field, as well as an unbroken strand of headlights from the long line of cars on Graymont Avenue, which was backed up all the way to downtown. His brother Gary Rutledge was also a quarterback at Alabama from 1972 to 1974. He was a devoted husband and father and his favorite hobby was fishing. Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is a former American football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. Jeff Rutledge Wiki Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Finished career at Alabama has the school's leading passer, surpassing Joe Namath. An estimated 42,000 people poured into Legion Field that night -- a state high-school attendance record that still stands -- but as big as the game was, just as many people were curious to see its two superstars, Woodlawn's Nathan and Banks' Rutledge. If all that notoriety affected Nathan, none of his teammates could tell. But, Knoxville, too, was a little too far from home for Nathan. They made great souvenirs, too, and fans mobbed him after the games to get a piece of Nathan's jersey. Now he is here and his family is there, and no one is happy. Alabama Crimson Tide football yearly statistical leaders, History of the New York Giants (19791993). In the days leading up to the game, both The Birmingham News and the Birmingham Post-Herald played it up as not only a clash of the titans between Banks and Woodlawn but also a Rutledge vs. Nathan showdown. He will miss Saturday night's exhibition game against the Giants at Giants Stadium. In 2013, he married Laura McKeeman (who took Rutledge's name upon marriage), a reporter and host for ESPN and the SEC Network. That game meant that Rutledge got the nod to start the following week on Monday Night against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that was to become infamously known as the "Body Bag Game". Rutledge led Montgomery Bell Academy to a 41-17 record from 20022006, with two state *les in 2002 and 2003 and a #15 ranking in the final USA Today Super 25 poll in 2003. in Plant Science from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a Masters in Agronomy (Weed Science) from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He received his degree from Alabama in Business Administration and in 2011, was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. While it has been reported that only one gate was open that night, Walter Garrett, who was the stadium manager at Legion Field for 38 years, says that both gates 7A and 7B at the south entrance to the stadium were open, as was customary at all Birmingham high school games there. See the article in its original context from. If Roberts misses Saturday night's game, as seems likely, Damian Johnson will move to left guard and Brian Williams will replace Johnson at right guard. "I had some professors walk up to me and say, 'Hey, we were around when you were playing.'. While Nathan ran for 112 yards and scored a touchdown that night, the Colonels lost to the Jets 18-7, with Rutledge completing eight of nine passing for 185 yards and a touchdown. On signing day, both Bryant and Alabama basketball coach C.M. In his teens, he acted in productions of the North Shore Children's Theater and, from 1942 to 1944, performed in . Another, a little fireplug of a linebacker who had moved to Birmingham from Texas the year before, became the surprise defensive star of the game. Some of those who were in the stands that night can't say for sure who won, and even many of those who were on the fieldare hard-pressed to remember the final score. Welcome. He also led the Crimson Tide to two Sugar Bowl appearances and two SEC Championships. Many of the players on both teams grew up playing pee-wee football together at East Lake and Wahouma parks, and as teenagers, they hung out together at Eastwood Mall. Tony could have gone anywhere. ", During his senior season at at Woodlawn High School in 1974, Tony Nathan was a Parade All-American and featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd." On October 2, 2019, his wife gave birth to a daughter. Jeff Rutledge - Biography - IMDb "Before I signed to go to Alabama, Coach Bryant told me, 'Well, look, you can try out (for basketball), but if you're not within the top six, you've got to come back out for spring ball.'''. "'And you told me you didn't want me to play this game. That game meant that Rutledge got the nod to start the following week on Monday Night against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that was to become infamously known as the "Body Bag Game". Jeffrey Hunter - Biography - IMDb "His jersey would just be hanging on him," Woodlawn teammate Brad Hendrix says. After the season ended, he accepted an assistant coaching position on Paul "Bear" Bryant's staff at Alabama, where he was part of back-to-back national championships in 1978 and 1979 -- the first of which featured Rutledge and Nathan in the starting backfield. On Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams lost their backup, Mark Herrmann, for six to eight weeks with broken ribs. Rutledge earned MVP honors at the 1978 Sugar Bowl and also earned All-SEC honors in 1978 and 1979.[4]. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). "It was always the biggest game of the year, for both sides," Rutledge says. "It's been home a long time," Nathan says. I did believe. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. A Valuable Commodity. He is not dating anyone. His finest moment as a professional player came when as a member of the Redskins he came off the bench in a game versus the Detroit Lions in 1990. That was Laura Holmes, whom Rutledge later met when his Fellowship of Christian Athletes adviser suggested that he ask her to go with him to the team banquet following his freshman year at Alabama.
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