(Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). He was part of a team that earned back-to-back state titles at L. Frazier Banks High School in Birmingham, Alabama. ''My wife is frustrated,'' said Rutledge. In overtime, he hit Art Monk with a vital 40-yard p* on third and 15 to help set up Chip Lohmiller's game-winning field goal. New York Giants. Bryant paid several visits to the Nathan home, and he often brought with him an entourage of assistants and past and current Tide players, including Joe Namath, Johnny Musso and Ozzie Newsome. 6' 1" (185 cm) How much does Jeff Rutledge weigh? 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. "I did accept Christ in my life at that time, they say," Nathan says. Their two-year reign as 4A state champs also ended with a 12-0 shutout loss to eventual champion Homewood in the first round of the playoffs. A three-year starter, he also led Alabama to the #2 National ranking in 1977. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After seven seasons at Vanderbilt, Rutledge became the head coach at Montgomery Bell Academy, a school for seventh to 12th grade boys in Nashville. "Before Bo, there was Tony," Ragland says. And when the game finally did kick off a half-hour or so later, the crowd kept pouring in well into the second quarter. But, Knoxville, too, was a little too far from home for Nathan. Rutledge lived up to his star billing that night, completing 9 of 10 passes for 188 yards and that touchdown to Grefseng. ", Tony Nathan strikes a Heisman-like pose as he tries to avoid a linebacker. He was the starting quarterback on the 1978 National Championship team. In overtime, he hit Art Monk with a vital 40-yard pass on third and 15 to help set up Chip Lohmiller's game-winning field goal. 2. He completed 30 of 42 passes for 363 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 12 yards for the game-tying touchdown with only 24 seconds remaining. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. So I ended up saying, 'Thanks, coach, but no thanks.' In those days, the Banks-Woodlawn rivalry was like the Alabama-Auburn of Birmingham high school football, but maybe just a little friendlier. (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). "I remember going back and forth to get more tickets to sell. Sports Illustrated featured him in its "Faces in the Crowd" section after he ran for 228 yards and scored seven touchdowns against Ramsay, and late in the season, along with Banks quarterback Jeff Rutledge, he was named a Parade All-American. Newton stood behind Nathan as he sat next to his parents and got his picture taken signing his letter of intent. So the magic from that night continues to live on. I do believe. Discover Jeff Rutledge's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. That University of Alabama sorority girl who was in the stands at Legion Field that night? Former Realtor at ReallivingAdavanceRealty. ''You gear up for a time when you're going to get together as a family. "I was like, 'All right, it's that time.'". (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). We had a blast. An estimated 42,000 fans filled the lower bowl of Legion Field for the 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game. A Valuable Commodity. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. We just couldn't put the icing on the cake.". "Each gate had four openings in it for four lines of people," Garrett says, "but it still obviously wasn't enough.". "I think back about our team, and I think about the players who played then and who could play now in terms of their strength and speed and ability," Legg says. View Jeff Rutledge results in Munford, AL including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The final count was an estimated 42,000 people -- roughly 10,000 more than the previous record crowd at the Crippled Children's Classic between Phillips and Woodlawn, also at Legion Field, in 1950. Woodlawn grads included Harry Gilmer, who was an All-American at Alabama and the MVP of the 1946 Rose Bowl, and Bobby Bowden, who coached Florida State to two national championships on his way to becoming the winningest coach in college football history. The main building, built in 1922, was a grand, three-story structure that always looked more like a palace than a schoolhouse. The other day, Rutledge called his wife and told her to wait. He said he hadn't decided whether to keep two or three quarterbacks.''. When he retired from football, Nathan also got into coaching - first with the Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then at Florida International University. 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. jeff.rutledge@mcmillanvantage.com. This week, Birmingham filmmakers Jon and Andrew Erwin began shooting a movie, "Woodlawn," which takes place during Nathan's days at Woodlawn High School and focuses in on that 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game. He was the starting quarterback on the 1978 National Championship team. That year, the Cardinals made a late season run and earned a Super Bowl berth, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-23. Only two practice sessions remain at the Fairleigh Dickinson campus here. He has established himself as a trusted advisor providing advice and direction to organizations in some of the most heavily regulated . Tony Nathan, left, and Jeff Rutledge talk following the 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game at Legion Field in Birmingham. In the spring of 2007 Rutledge got his first NFL coaching job when he was hired as quarterbacks coach with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, with direct charge over Kurt Warner. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. McNeal has been a pastor and counselor at the church, and he and Nathan are close, a friendship that dates back to their playing days at Alabama. Birmingham police guessed another 20,000 gave up and went back home when they saw the long lines. He finished his college career with a 33-5 record as a starter, which currently ranks him as the University of Alabama's seventh all-time winningest quarterback. Wasn't it 14-0? If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. There was no mortgage. "That Banks-Woodlawn game our senior year, that was all about Tony and Jeff Rutledge," Hendrix says. And since Banks and Woodlawn were in the same region -- and both were competing in 4A, which was then the largest high school classification in the state -- only one of them would advance. People around the country were starting to notice him, too. Tandy Gerelds left Woodlawn after the 1975 season to join his father in the family insurance business, but in 1984, he returned to coaching at Deshler High School in Tuscumbia. Nathan played his entire NFL career with the Dolphins - retiring in 1987 after nine seasons in the aqua and orange - and he has continued to make Miami his home, even when NFL assistant coaching jobs took him to Tampa Bay, Baltimore and San Francisco. About Jeff Rutledge is a 66 year old American Football (American) Player born on 22nd January, 1957 in Birmingham, AL. We were playing in front of 20,000 people regularly, so we were getting some big crowds.". . 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. Jeff is survived by his wife, Dana; daughter, Payton Rutledge; son, Parker Rutledge; and several nieces and nephews. "It was just that time. . "It touched me," he says. I wanted him to have his degree. After working as an assistant at Vanderbilt University and with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL, Rutledge is now the head coach at Valley Christian High School in Chandler, Ariz. After four years at Alabama, Woodlawn's Tony Nathan was drafted in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, where he played for nine seasons under Don Shula, including two Super Bowls. "I said, 'What's wrong, Mike, they didn't have crowds like this at Locust Fork?'" His brother Gary Rutledge was also a quarterback at Alabama from 1972 to 1974. Fully committed to football now, Nathan became one of the key cogs in a wishbone offense that was clicking on all cylinders. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). But he made a great play and I just kept running, and he threw it and I caught it.". If they cut me and someone picks me up, they would have to get someone else not familiar with their system.'' On Sunday, the Jets lost their backup, Pat Ryan, for at least six to eight weeks with a sprained knee. Rutledge, 58, who was the quarterbacks coach of the Cardinals in their only Super Bowl season, said Alabama never stopped aspiring to the biggest heights in college football since he left. Now he is not sure what he is. He was a basketball guy.". 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. He resigned in the Spring of 2012 to return to Arizona to spend time with his family. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 63 years old? The next year, I was on injured reserve. On Nov. 8, 1974 -- 40 years ago this Saturday - the two-time defending state champion Banks Jets met their eastern Birmingham rivals the Woodlawn Colonels in front of what was then and remains today the biggest crowd to ever watch a high school football game in Alabama. Place kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh of the New York Giants kicks a field goal during a game against the New Orleans Saints at Giants Stadium on December 15,. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. By his senior season in 1974, Woodlawn running back Tony Nathan was one of the most sought-after high school football players in America. Woodlawn never beat Banks during Nathan's three years on the varsity. Our defensive game plan was awesome.". "Everywhere Tony lined up, there was Greg," Rutledge remembers. The next Christmas, Santa Claus brought Tony his first official football. Banks quarterback Jeff Rutledge, who would later lead Alabama to a national championship and play on two Super Bowl-winning teams, and Woodlawn running back Tony Nathan, who would become Rutledge's teammate at Alabama and go on to play in two Super Bowls of his own, were the marquee attractions. Jeff Rutledge. Like Jackson, Nathan excelled at just about any sport he played. Banks coach Shorty White had assigned Muse to shadow Woodlawn's Nathan everywhere he went, and although Nathan finished with 112 yards on 31 carries, Muse was all over him most of the night. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Jeff Rutledge, of Newport, represents the White River and his term expires in 2024. On fourth down with a yard needed, he was sent by head coach Bill Parcells for a potential decoy play. The film builds to a finale where Woodlawn meets crosstown rival Banks, quarterbacked by Jeff Rutledge, who would eventually play at Alabama with Nathan. It all built up to Nov. 8, 1974, when Woodlawn, which had won 11 games in a row, met its old nemesis Banks, which was riding a 34-game unbeaten streak, at Legion Field. It's been very interesting. ", 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." The easygoing Nathan had the ideal temperament for the job, Newman told him. William Nathan, who worked as millwright at Connors Steel in Birmingham, made his son Tony his first football by stitching together a strip of Naugahyde and stuffing it with rags and cotton balls. It's tough for me to tell her to wait. He got permission from his academic advisers to drop his courses with a withdraw-passing grade and come back to finish his degree later. Perhaps that epic 1974 showdown at Legion Field between Birmingham high-school heavyweights Woodlawn and Banks would have been just another Friday night football game. "The other thing about the wishbone, if you were a truly good back in the wishbone, you had to block, too,'' says Murray Legg, who, as a defensive back on those Alabama teams, often went up against Nathan in practice. "Some of the other running backs didn't want to be that lead blocker. Rutledge would never start an NFL game again but he did see spot duty in relief of returning starter Mark Rypien in the Redskins' 1991 Super Bowl Championship season, including some playing time in the last game of the regular season, again against the Philadelphia Eagles. 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. "It was odd to see people react and want a piece of cloth off of somebody else who was wearing it. In his teens, he acted in productions of the North Shore Children's Theater and, from 1942 to 1944, performed in . You could call it inspiration, you could call it whatever you like. Dunn and Anthony Murray and that would go on to make it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, losing to eventual champion Indiana. He and his wife, Johnnie, who was his high school sweetheart at Woodlawn and his college sweetheart at Alabama, still live in the same house they bought in 1983. He finished his college career with a 33-5 record as a starter, which currently ranks him as the University of Alabama's seventh all-time winningest quarterback. I still get chills thinking about it.". "That's a scary thought now," the 58-year-old Nathan says of what might have been. "It was Banks-Woodlawn. "It was always the biggest game of the year, for both sides," Rutledge says. I will make you that promise. "In high school, he was the best quarterback in the state of Alabama, and Coach Bryant did his job and the recruiters did their jobs to get him to go to Alabama," Nathan says. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. 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. He was worn out, and he was just tearing the rest of his jersey off.". Rutledge played collegiately at Alabama, where he was a member of three SEC Championship teams under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Jeff Rutledge, Nathan's old rival from Banks, was now his teammate, quarterbacking the Tide. Although it was just one moment in time, all of their names -- as well as those of Greg Muse, Jerry Murphree, Bob Grefseng, Denny Ragland, Brad Hendrix, Jerry Stearns and many others -- will always be linked to that November night in Legion Field 40 years ago. Rutledge was born to Tony and Cheryl Rutledge in Cullman, Alabama, on April 21, 1989. Jeff Rutledge Biography. It was Grefseng's only touchdown catch of his Banks career. I wasn't too sure about him running the wishbone at that time, but he did a very good job and it was great to play with him.". He played college football at Alabama, where he was the team's starting quarterback for their 1978 National . A few years ago, though, Nathan realized one thing was missing in his life. ''My first year in the league, with the Rams, it was hairy because they had so many quarterbacks in camp. [2] Rutledge spent most of his career as a back-up quarterback and a holder on kicks. Nathan played nine years with the Dolphins and started in two Super Bowls. There's something always new at the courthouse.". On Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams lost their backup, Mark Herrmann, for six to eight weeks with broken ribs. Stearns recalls. Roberts, the starting left guard, has a slightly sprained left knee, which was reported improved. '", So just think, if Louise Nathan hadn't put her foot down, maybe no one would have ever heard of "Touchdown Tony.". They've been married for going on 37 years now, with three children and nine grandkids. Wore number 17 for the New York Giants. My parents raised me that way. "He looked like he had a jet pack on his back," Baumhower recalls. If it had been up to Louise Nathan, her son Tony never would have touched a football. Drafted in the ninth round of the 1979 NFL Draft (246th overall pick) by the Los Angeles Rams,[2] Rutledge played in 14 NFL seasons[3][5] from 1979 to 1992 for three different teams. We prayed together, and from then on, I respected them and they respected me. A three-year starter, he also led Alabama to the #2 National ranking in 1977. Center Dwight Stephenson and defensive back Don McNeal, who were a year behind him, would join the Dolphins the next year. 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. During preseason camp, evangelist Wales Goebel, who became a born-again Christian after alcohol destroyed his small-college basketball career and nearly cost him his life, came to share his story with the Woodlawn players. Rutledge is a Christian and attends Arizona Community Church in Chandler. So after his freshman football season -- while his football teammates were enjoying their break -- Nathan was on the basketball court the next day, trying to break into an Alabama lineup that featured Leon Douglas, Reggie King, T.R. fdar charting for blood transfusion $ 0.00 Cart. WIFE'S SUGGESTION OF RETIREMENT LOST ON RUTLEDGE. "And then they told me that that guy (Nathan) was an All-American basketball player, and he wasn't going to be playing football. I knew when I came to training camp that it would be tough. Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is an American football coach and former professional quarterback. We have estimated A three-year starter, he also led Alabama to the #2 National ranking in 1977. By Frank Litsky, Special To the New York Times. 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. "It wasn't hard to grab a piece of it. In the spring of 2007 Rutledge got his first NFL coaching job when he was hired as quarterbacks coach with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, with direct charge over Kurt Warner. 3 QUARTERBACK, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/24/sports/uneasy-lies-the-head-of-no-3-quarterback.html, Frank Litsky, Special To the New York Times. Nathan says. ", RELATED: Turning back the clock at Legion Field. "There is no doubt in my mind that the delay in the game helped us,'' Banks' Grefseng says. Banks came in riding a 34-game unbeaten streak, its last loss coming to Woodlawn, 21-18, three years before. "In high school, he was the best quarterback in the state of Alabama, and Coach Bryant did his job. 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. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. 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. Add to that the fact that, back in those days, only one team from each region made the state playoffs. Contact . Meanwhile, Tuscaloosa was just an hour away, and one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, had the Crimson Tide not just rolling again, but steamrolling. This Korean War-era Sabre jet, which was loaned to Banks High School in 1961, was repainted in school colors and prominently displayed on campus. The year before, Logan had coached at rural Locust Fork High School in Blount County. He is from United States. Established network of influencers, political staff, department officials and media, supporting sound execution of public affairs initiatives. That 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game would be Shorty White's 100th win at Banks, and his last. The stoic Nathan even teared up as walked across the Coleman Coliseum stage to receive his diploma from outgoing UA President Judy Bonner. "All three kids were raised here. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. As big as it was, though, even in these days where everything is just a Google or YouTube search away, only a few accounts and descriptions from that night are available, mainly in school yearbooks and newspaper archives. clever birthday captions, , washington county, mn accident reports,
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