Isaac Curtis

Isaac Fisher Curtis (born October 20, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) and spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Bengals (1973–1984). He played college football for the California Golden Bears and San Diego State Aztecs.

Early life Isaac Curtis was a star running back as well as a hurdler that set a conference record lasting years at Santa Ana High School in California. In 1985 his former coach called him "the best running back to ever play in Orange County.

College career Curtis received a football scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley. For three years, he excelled as a member of Cal's track team, and he was a running back and kick returner for their football team.

After he finished his junior season, Curtis transferred to San Diego State University because of the controversy surrounding the probation of Cal's football team. He excelled as a slot wide receiver during his senior season with the Aztecs under famed coach Don Coryell, who moved him from running back to receiver. That year, Curtis caught 44 passes for 832 yards and seven touchdowns. Later in his career, Paul Brown said that what he liked the most about Isaac Curtis was not so much his athleticism but his always quietly confident personality, saying "He's a very gentle person...no jumping up and down, spiking it, or trash talking".

In Curtis' second season, he caught 30 passes for 630 yards (a 21.1 yard-per-catch average) and a career-best 10 touchdowns. In 2022, Curtis was inducted into the Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor.

The Isaac Curtis rule "The Isaac Curtis rule" should not be confused with the "Mel Blount rule", which was a stricter revision of "The Isaac Curtis Rule". Because Isaac Curtis had world-class speed there were no defensive backs who could keep up with him; all of the teams would double and sometimes even triple cover him. In 1973 in his first year, the Bengals won the Central Division and faced the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the Miami Dolphins. Don Shula's defensive backs did not have the speed to cover Curtis and Shula decided that he would have them push, bump, and hold him down the field. After that game, NFL defenses, including the Steelers started doing the same thing to stop Curtis. Paul Brown wanted the rule changed telling the NFL Competition Committee, "What good is it for us to have performers, if they aren't allowed to perform."

NFL career statistics Legend Led the league Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Games Receiving GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD 1973 CIN 14 14 45 843 18.7 77 9 1974 CIN 14 14 30 633 21.1 77 10 1975 CIN 14 14 44 934 21.2 55 7 1976 CIN 14 14 41 766 18.7 85 6 1977 CIN 8 8 20 338 16.9 54 2 1978 CIN 16 16 47 737 15.7 57 3 1979 CIN 16 14 32 605 18.9 67 8 1980 CIN 15 14 43 610 14.2 67 3 1981 CIN 15 14 37 609 16.5 68 2 1982 CIN 9 9 23 320 13.9 45 1 1983 CIN 16 16 42 571 13.6 80 2 1984 CIN 16 13 12 135 11.3 22 0 167 160 416 7,101 17.1 85 53

Playoffs Year Team Games Receiving GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD 1973 CIN 1 1 1 9 9.0 9 0 1975 CIN 1 1 3 20 6.7 14 1 1981 CIN 3 3 6 92 15.3 22 0 1982 CIN 1 1 3 63 21.0 32 1 6 6 13 184 14.2 32 2

After football Curtis is a sales executive for Winegardner and Hammons, Inc., a hotel management company in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash. He has lived in the North Avondale section of Cincinnati for over 20 years.