Jack Thompson (American football)

Jack Thompson (born May 18, 1956) is an American Samoan former professional American football player, a quarterback in the National Football League for six seasons, four with the Cincinnati Bengals and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was known as "the Throwin' Samoan," a nickname bestowed on him by Spokesman-Review columnist Harry Missildine during Thompson's breakout sophomore season at Washington State University in 1976.

Jack Thompson

Thompson in 2019, at Mike Leach's Insurgent Warfare and Football Strategy class
No. 12, 14
Position:	Quarterback
Personal information
Born:	(1956-05-19) May 19, 1956 Tutuila, American Samoa
Height:	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:	217 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school:	Seattle (WA) Evergreen
College:	Washington State
NFL Draft:	1979 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Career history
Cincinnati Bengals (1979–1982) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1983–1984)
Career highlights and awards
2× First-team All-Pac-8/Pac-10 (1976, 1978) Second-team All-Pac-8 (1977)
Career NFL statistics
Pass attempts: 845 Pass completions: 449 Percentage: 53.1 TD-INT: 33-45 Passing yards: 5,315 Passer rating: 63.4 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

College career

As a collegian at Washington State in Pullman, Thompson set numerous school, Pac-10 and NCAA records. In the second game of 1976, he took over on offense after senior starter John Hopkins was injured making a tackle in the second quarter at Minnesota.[1] In a 2002 story, Thompson explained why he chose to attend Washington State and how his first series against Minnesota in 1976 was almost his last until offensive coordinator Bob Leahy convinced head coach Jackie Sherrill to leave Thompson in the game: https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Washington-State-Cougars-football-How-legendary-Jack-Thompson-landed-and-stayed-at-WSU-Throwin-Samoan-136113036/

As a fifth-year senior in 1978, Thompson finished ninth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy,[2][3] and concluded his college career as the most prolific passer in NCAA history with 7,818 passing yards.[4] Thompson set Pac-10 records for attempts, completions, and TD passes. He was all-conference three times and either first-team, second-team, or honorable mention All-American three times.

Thompson is one of only two players in school history to have his number retired (with Pro Football Hall of Famer Mel Hein); he wore No. 14 and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1974, south of Seattle.

College statistics

Legend
	Led the Pac-8/Pac-10
	Pac-8/Pac-10 record
	Led the NCAA
	NCAA Record
Bold	Career high

College passing statistics* [5]

Season	School	Games	Cmp	Att	Yds	Pct	TD	INT	QBR
1975	Washington State	11	26	54	351	48.1%	3	2	113.7
1976	Washington State	11	208	355	2,762	58.6%	20	14	134.7
1977	Washington State	11	192	329	2,372	58.4%	13	13	124.1
1978	Washington State	11	175	348	2,333	50.3%	17	20	111.2
Career	Washington State	44	601	1,086	7,818	55.3%	53	49	122.9

* Includes bowl games.

NFL career

Thompson was the first quarterback selected in the 1979 NFL Draft, taken third overall by the Cincinnati Bengals,[4][6] and played there for four years, which included the Super Bowl season in 1981.

Considered by ESPN to be a bust of a draft pick (#26 worst – fellow WSU grad Ryan Leaf is considered #1),[7] Thompson went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1983 and was the starter, but was replaced the following year by Steve DeBerg.[8]

NFL career statistics

Legend
	Led the league
	NFL record
	Won the Super Bowl
	AP NFL MVP
	Super Bowl MVP
Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	Games		Passing									Rushing				Sacked		Fumbles		Record
		G	GS	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/A	Lng	TD	Int	Rtg	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Sck	Yds	Fum	Lost	W–L
1979	CIN	9	1	39	87	44.8	481	5.5	50	1	5	42.4	21	116	5.5	5	16	178	3	1	0–1
1980	CIN	14	4	115	234	49.1	1,324	5.7	59	11	12	60.9	18	84	4.7	1	13	113	5	3	1-3
1981	CIN	8	0	21	49	42.9	267	5.4	21	1	2	50.3	0	0	0.0	0	7	61	0	0	0-0
1982	CIN	1	0	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0
1983	TB	14	13	249	423	58.9	2,906	6.9	80	18	21	73.3	26	27	1.0	0	39	289	10	5	2-11
1984	TB	5	3	25	52	48.1	337	6.5	74	2	5	42.4	5	35	7.0	0	10	54	1	1	1-2
Total		51	21	449	845	53.1	5,315	6.3	80	33	45	63.4	70	262	3.7	6	85	695	19	10	4-17

Playoffs

Year	Team	Games		Passing									Rushing				Sacked		Fumbles		Record
		G	GS	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/A	Lng	TD	Int	Rtg	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Sck	Yds	Fum	Lost	W–L
1981	CIN	2	0	1	1	100.0	14	14.0	14	0	0	118.7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0
Total		2	0	1	1	100.0	14	14.0	14	0	0	118.7	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0

After football

After his football career, Thompson settled in Seattle and became a mortgage banker, as well as a volunteer quarterbacks coach at Ballard High School. His son Tony, a tight end, followed in his dad's footsteps in suiting up at Washington State, and a nephew, Tavita Pritchard, was a quarterback at Stanford University.

See also

• List of quarterbacks of non-white or non-black descent

References

1. Missildine, Harry (September 19, 1976). "Gophers whips Cougs". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. D1.
2. "Oklahoma's Sims Heisman winner". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. November 29, 1978. p. 18.
3. Word, Ron (November 29, 1978). "Billy Sims". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 49.
4. "Ohio State linebacker goes to beef up Buffalo". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. May 4, 1979. p. 49.
5. "Jack Thompson college statistics". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
6. Bergum, Steve (May 4, 1979). "Cincinnati denies rumors; Thompson isn't trade bait". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 49.
7. ESPN.com: "Phillips couldn't outrun off-the-field troubles: From Ryan Leaf to Michael Westbrook, ESPN.com ranks the top 50 draft busts" April 18, 2008.
8. "Thompson hopes to come out of 'retirement'". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). October 7, 1984. p. 3C.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference · 
• Friends of Evergreen − Jack Thompson