Jerry Ball

Jerry Lee Ball Jr. (born December 15, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL), playing primarily as a nose tackle. He played college football for the SMU Mustangs. Ball played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles / Oakland Raiders, and Minnesota Vikings.

Biography Ball was born in Beaumont, Texas, and attended Hebert High School, then after integration graduated from West Brook High School, where he played fullback and rushed for 1,000 yards and LB for 1982 5A State Championship All State honors. He was All District in three positions and was selected to play in the Texas high school all star game. Ball was selected as one of the top 100 players over the last 100 years by Dave Campbell's Texas Football and Texas UIL football organizations 1920 to 2020.

Ball was selected as a Texas Gridiron Legend in 2020 for contributions to the game of football.

He played college football at Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas. He was a four-year letter-winner and ranks 4th on the all-time sack list at SMU. He was selected as All-Southwest Conference 84–86.

Ball was a third-team All-American as a junior and a second-team All-American as a senior. He was a two-time Outland and Lombardi award finalist, and a Christian-Terrell 3-time winner. Ball was inducted to SMU athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.

Professional career

Ball was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 3rd round (63rd overall) of the 1987 NFL draft. During his career he went to three Pro Bowls with the Detroit Lions.

Ball played in the NFL for 13 seasons. He recorded 32.5 sacks during his career, most of them coming as a nose tackle with the Detroit Lions. Despite this fact, Ball spent his entire career being double teamed and often triple teamed by opposing teams. Ball's dominance was such a force that teams would realign their best players to help centers deal with the pressure Ball kept on the middle of the offense. Known mostly as a run stuffer later in his career, he has been considered one of the best nose tackles of this era. Anchoring the Minnesota Viking defense alongside John Randle, also a Pro Bowl defensive tackle, Ball re-emerged as a leader and dominant force on the Vikings 15–1 record setting team.

NFL career statistics Legend Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Comb Solo Ast Sck Int Yds TD Lng FF FR Yds TD 1987 DET 12 12 36 — — 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1988 DET 16 16 68 — — 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1989 DET 16 16 73 — — 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1990 DET 15 15 50 — — 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1991 DET 13 13 36 — — 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1992 DET 12 12 43 — — 2.5 0 0 0 0 0 3 21 1 1993 CLE 16 7 46 — — 3.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1994 RAI 16 14 52 44 8 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1995 OAK 15 14 41 33 8 3.0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1996 OAK 16 0 26 22 4 3.0 1 66 1 66 0 1 0 0 1997 MIN 12 6 30 17 13 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1998 MIN 16 16 31 24 7 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1999 MIN 13 10 24 16 8 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CLE 3 3 1 1 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 191 154 557 157 48 32.5 1 66 1 66 5 12 21 1

Playoffs Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Comb Solo Ast Sck Int Yds TD Lng FF FR Yds TD 1997 MIN 2 2 6 3 3 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1998 MIN 2 2 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1999 MIN 2 1 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5 10 6 4 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Personal life Ball became a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity at Southern Methodist University Spring 1984.

Ball has three daughters and four grandchildren.