Sonny Jurgensen

Christian Adolph "Sonny" Jurgensen III (August 23, 1934 – February 6, 2026) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. Jurgensen played college football for the Duke Blue Devils. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Jurgensen was also a color commentator for Washington's radio broadcast crew from 1981 to 2019.

Early life and education Jurgensen was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, on August 23, 1934. He started playing sports in elementary school, when he led his school to the city grammar school titles in baseball and basketball. He later won Wilmington's youth tennis championship and pitched for his local Civitan club, which won the city baseball title. After his senior football season, he was chosen to start at quarterback for the North Carolina team in the annual North Carolina vs. South Carolina Shrine Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jurgensen was selected in the fourth round (43rd overall) of the 1957 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He was Philadelphia's backup quarterback behind Bobby Thomason in 1957 and Norm Van Brocklin from 1958 through 1960. It was during this time as a backup that Jurgensen was a part of a championship team for the only time in his professional career, when the Eagles won the 1960 NFL Championship. The transaction was part of a youth movement by recently appointed Eagles head coach and general manager Joe Kuharich, as both Snead and Crabb were age 24 at the time while Jurgensen and Carr were 29 and 31 respectively. The situation was the opposite for Washington, which sacrificed youth for experience. He was then selected to play in the Pro Bowl following the season and was also named second-team All-Pro. Jurgensen threw the ball just 292 times during the year, completing 167 for 1,980 yards and 17 touchdowns. Coincidentally, Redskins' quarterbacks had three of the first four occurrences of a 99-yard pass play (Frank Filchock to Andy Farkas in 1939 and George Izo to Bobby Mitchell in 1963 were the other two occurrences of the play). Since Jurgensen's feat, no other Redskins' quarterback has completed a 99-yard pass. Lombardi died of cancer shortly before the start of the 1970 season. The defensive-minded Allen preferred Kilmer's conservative, ball-control style of play to Jurgensen's more high-risk approach. Despite the controversy, Jurgensen was helpful to his rival. Even until Jurgensen's death, Kilmer still stayed at his former teammate's house when he was in town. in the Redskins' 19–10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the 1974 NFC playoffs.

Lombardi once told Pat Peppler of the Green Bay Packers head office that, "If we would have had Sonny Jurgensen in Green Bay, we'd never have lost a game."

NFL career statistics Legend Won the NFL Championship Led the league Bold Career high

GP !! GS !! Cmp !! Att !! Pct !! Yds !! Avg !! TD !! Int !! Lng !! Rtg !! PHI

!! PHI

!! PHI

!! PHI

!! PHI

!! PHI

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

!! WAS

Jurgensen covered the team for WRC-TV from 1994 until December 2008, when Redskins Report was cancelled due to budget cuts. He served as a game analyst at preseason games and as studio analyst at training camp, making weekly picks, and other assignments. He retired from broadcasting prior to the 2019 season.

Jurgensen served on the board of advisors of the Code of Support Foundation, a nonprofit military services organization.

Honors

Jurgensen was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1971 and the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. He was then inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1999, Jurgensen was ranked the ninth best sports figure from North Carolina by Sports Illustrated and became a member of Wilmington's Walk of Fame in 2004.

Washington retired Jurgensen's #9 jersey in 2022, during their week 18 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Personal life Jurgensen met his first wife, Suzanne Long, while they were students at Duke. They had two sons, Greg and Scott, before later divorcing. Jurgensen married Margo Hurt in 1967. The couple had two sons, Erik and Gunnar.

Jurgensen died on February 6, 2026, in Naples, Florida,