Bobby Douglass

Robert Gilchrist Douglass (born June 22, 1947) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks before being selected by the Bears in the second round of the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. During his career, he also played for the San Diego Chargers, the New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers. Douglass retired after the 1978 season, after playing 10 seasons in the NFL.

Early life Douglass was raised in El Dorado, Kansas, where his father was a football coach.

College career Playing at the University of Kansas, Douglass was a two-time All-Big Eight Conference (1967–68) selection and an All-American in 1968. During his senior season, he directed the Jayhawks to a 9–2 record, a share of the Big Eight Conference title and a spot in the 1969 Orange Bowl. He passed for 1,316 yards and 12 touchdowns during his final year as a Jayhawk and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting that season.

Career statistics Year Team Passing Rushing 1966 Kansas 17 38 44.7 175 4.6 1 3 76.3 72 105 1.5 0 1967 Kansas 82 173 47.4 1,326 7.7 7 11 112.4 175 415 2.4 7 1968 Kansas 84 168 50.0 1,316 7.8 12 6 132.2 148 495 3.3 12 Career 183 379 48.3 2,817 7.4 20 20 117.6 395 1,015 2.6 19

Professional career In 1972, playing for the Chicago Bears, Douglass set the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in one season. The record stood for 34 years. In a 14-game 1972 season, he ran for 968 yards and 8 touchdowns on 141 carries. Three quarterbacks in the NFL (Lamar Jackson twice, Michael Vick, and Justin Fields) have since run for over 1,000 yards. With Douglass starting, the Chicago Bears had a 13–31–1 record.

In a November 4, 1973 game against the Packers, Douglass ran for four touchdowns in a 31–17 win. He and Billy Kilmer are the only quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for four touchdowns in a single game.

In five seasons from 1971 to 1975, Douglass played in 47 games and amassed 2,040 rushing yards. During that span, he averaged 43.4 rushing yards per game played—the third highest rushing yards per game average over a five-season span for a quarterback. (Michael Vick ranks first with 54.1 yards per game over a five-year span from 2002 to 2006). However, Douglass had little success as a passer, going 507-for-1178 for 36 touchdowns and 64 interceptions with a quarterback passer rating of only 48.5 during his 10-season NFL career.

NFL career statistics Year Team Games Passing Rushing GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD 1969 CHI 11 7 1−6 68 148 45.9 773 5.2 5 8 50.9 51 408 8.0 2 1970 CHI 3 1 1−0 12 30 40.0 218 7.3 4 3 65.7 7 22 3.1 0 1971 CHI 12 7 3−4 91 225 40.4 1,164 5.2 5 15 37.0 39 284 7.3 3 1972 CHI 14 14 4−9−1 75 198 37.9 1,246 6.3 9 12 49.8 141 968 6.9 8 1973 CHI 13 12 3−9 81 174 46.6 1,057 6.1 5 7 59.0 94 525 5.6 5 1974 CHI 7 3 1−2 41 100 41.0 387 3.9 2 4 42.4 36 229 6.4 1 1975 CHI 1 1 0−1 8 20 40.0 87 4.4 0 2 14.0 5 34 6.8 1 SD 3 0 — 7 27 25.9 53 2.0 0 1 24.2 10 42 4.2 0 1976 NO 11 6 2−4 103 213 48.4 1,288 6.0 4 8 58.2 21 92 4.4 2 1977 NO 4 2 1−1 16 31 51.6 130 4.2 1 3 33.7 2 23 11.5 0 1978 GB 12 0 — 5 12 41.7 90 7.5 1 1 61.1 4 27 6.8 0 Career 91 53 16−36−1 507 1,178 43.0 6,493 5.5 36 64 48.5 410 2,654 6.5 22

Baseball career After his professional football career was over, Douglass briefly played minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. In 1980, he pitched four games for the Iowa Oaks where he had 7 innings pitched, issued 13 walks and failed to record a strikeout.

Personal life Douglass was married to former Playboy model Carol O'Neal. They had three children together and he adopted her two sons from a previous marriage.

Douglass was arrested on charges of trespassing on April 13, 2011.