Player Profiles - Collegefootballdatadvds.com

Honored Jersey
Honored Jerseys
7 Chris Redman
Third generation Cardinal...
dotted not only the U of L
record books but the
NCAA's as well... closed
his career as the NCAA alltime
leader in passes
attempted and completed
...one of just three Division
I-A signalcallers to throw
for more than 12,000 yards
in a career... Parade National High School Player
of the Year at nearby Male High... finished his
Cardinal career completing 1,031 of 1,679 passes
for 12,541 yards and 84 touchdowns... first-team
All-Conference USA selection and the league's
Offensive Player of the Year in 1999... also added
the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award to his
mantle... junior campaign of 1998 rewrote the U of
L and C-USA record books...passed for 4,042
yards and 29 scores despite playing in just 10
regular season games... his 44-of-56, 592-yard
afternoon against East Carolina was the nation's
top single game passing performance in 1998...was
the first Cardinal QB to lead his team to back-toback
bowl appearances.
50 Otis Wilson
Three-time letterman for the Cardinals...fierce
competitor and sure-handed tackler... dominating
defender and one of the
school’s all-time leading
tacklers... Co-captain of the
1979 team... referred to by
head coach Vince Gibson
as one of the best players
he ever coached... finished
his career as the school’s
second all-time leading
tackler with 484 tackles...
recorded 175 stops in 1977,
which is the third-best total in school history...
named the Defensive Most Valuable Player in the
1977 Independence Bowl... first team All-
American selection in 1979... registered 152 stops
in 1979 and 157 duringthe 1978 campaign... was a
first round pick of the Chicago Bears, the sixth
player in school history to garner first round status
in the NFL Draft... played eight years for the Bears
from 1980-87, including a 1986 World Championship.
10 Dwayne Woodruff
A three-time letterman for
the Cardinals... opened his
career as a reserve running
back and wide receiver
from New Richmond, Ohio
but was moved to the
secondary by then-head
coach Vince Gibson
following his sophomore
campaign... collected 161
tackles while intercepting three passes and
recovering three fumbles... accounted for 97 total
tackles in 1977 as the Cardinals advanced to the
Independence Bowl... was selected by the
Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 1979
National Football League Draft... spent 11 of the
next 12 seasons as a member of the Steelers
earning a victory in Super Bowl XIV as a rookie
for the Steeler dynasty... his 37 career interceptions
still ranks fifth all-time in the Steel Curtain record
books while his three interception returns for
touchdowns is the third-most in Pittsburgh history...
was named the team's most valuable player
following the 1992... topped the team with five
interceptions... led the Steelers in picks during five
different campaigns - 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988 and
1989.
16 Johnny Unitas (Retired)
Five games into
Johnny Unitas’ freshman
season (Unitas was allowed
to play as a freshman
because U of L didn’t
belong to the NCAA), head
coach Frank Camp knew he
had something unique.
Tossed in against
St. Bonaventure when U of
L was trailing 19-0, Unitas completed 11
consecutive passes, three for TDs, in a steady rain
and helped put the Cards in front 21-19.
But the Cards couldn’t stop St. Bonaventure
from kicking a last-ditch field goal and U of L lost
22-21.
Despite the loss, nothing could detract from
Unitas’ astonishing performance.
With Unitas leading the way, U of L went on
to win its next four games, including a 35-28
victory over Houston. Louisville was a 19-point
underdog against the Cougars.
One of the greatest plays of Unitas’ career
took place in that game when the Cardinals were
leading 28-21 and had the ball on their own eightyard
line in the fourth quarter.
After two unsuccessful running plays, Unitas
dropped back into his own end-zone, sidestepped
two defenders and threw a pass to Babe Ray who
scored a 92-yard TD.
In the next day’s Louisville Courier-Journal,
reporter Jimmy Brown wrote: “If Coach Frank
Camp is smart, he’ll take Unitas, enclose him in a
cellophane bag and put him away with the
Cardinals’ uniforms for safekeeping over the
winter.
Teammate Gene Sartini said: “Back at that
time he was just one of the guys. We lived at
White Hall.
We were a losing football team who used to
go out and eat cheeseburgers at the Doghouse.”
In his sophomore season, Unitas completed
77 of his 154 passes and threw 12 TDs. U of L
went 3-8 that year. At Florida State, Unitas had
one of his best games, completing 17 of 22 passes
in a 41-14 victory.
U of L, though, almost fumbled away
Johnny Unitas after his sophomore season. After
an administrative hassle which saw 15 players
dismissed from school, leaving the Cardinal
roster empty, Unitas thought about leaving and
transferring to Indiana.
Bernie Crimmins, the Hoosier head coach,
suggested to Unitas that he would have a better
shot at pro ball in the Big Ten.
But Unitas decided against leaving the
Cardinals when he was reminded that Indiana
shunned him earlier in his career.
Unitas now holds just a few records at U of
L, most of them eclipsed by quarterbacks John
Madeya, Ed Rubbert, Browning Nagle, Jeff
Brohm, Marty Lowe, Chris Redman, Dave
Ragone and Stefan LeFors. Unitas finished his
career completing 247 of 502 passes for 2,912
yards and 27 touchdowns.
The rest of Unitas’ story is well
documented. He left Louisville when he was the
ninth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in
1955 and was cut by them in a numbers game.
The Steelers had four quarterbacks; they only
needed three. Unitas was the odd man out.
Unitas took a job with a Pittsburgh tiling
company following the cut and then he latched
on with the Bloomfield Rams, a semi-pro team.
He made six dollars a game. But Unitas didn’t
linger long in the bush league. The Colts got
wind of him and invited him for a tryout. He
made the team—signing for $7,000— and the
Steelers made history for one of the biggest
blunders of all time.
Unitas was inducted into the NFL Hall of
Fame in 1979 and his record 47-consecutive
game touchdown passes is a record compared to
Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.
Sid Luckman once said: “Johnny Unitas is
the greatest quarterback ever to play the game—
better than me, better than Sammy Baugh, better
than anyone.”
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