Bobby Beathard

Robert King Beathard Jr. (/ˈbɛθərd/ BETH-ərd;[1] born January 24, 1937) is an American former football executive who was a general manager in the National Football League (NFL). Over the course of his 38 years in the NFL, his teams competed in seven Super Bowls (winning four times), beginning with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1966, Miami Dolphins in 1972 and 1973, Washington Redskins in 1982, 1983, and 1987, and the San Diego Chargers (now the Los Angeles Chargers) in 1994. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

Bobby Beathard
Beathard in 2018
Position:General manager
Personal information
Born: (1937-01-24) January 24, 1937
Zanesville, Ohio
Career information
High school:El Segundo (CA)
College:Cal Poly
Undrafted:1959
Career history
As player:
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
As executive:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Early life and playing career

Beathard was born in Zanesville, Ohio, before moving to El Segundo, California, at the age of four. He attended El Segundo High School but did not begin playing football until his sophomore year, as a tailback. In college, he accepted a scholarship to play football for LSU, but returned home after summer practices after feeling homesick. He then enrolled at El Camino Junior College for a year before enrolling at Cal Poly, where he played football as a back-up running back and later the starting quarterback and defensive back, leading Cal Poly to back-to-back 9–1 seasons. He went undrafted in 1959 and had pre-season stints with two professional teams, but was unable to find a spot, spending his early post-college years playing semi-pro football and working various non-football jobs.[2]

Executive career

Scout

Beathard first joined pro football in 1963 as a part-time scout for the Kansas City Chiefs. He left the Chiefs briefly to scout for the American Football League and returned to Kansas City full-time in 1966. He earned his first AFL championship ring as a member of the 1966 Chiefs organization.

Beathard served as a scout for the Atlanta Falcons from 1968 through 1971. He was named director of player personnel for the Miami Dolphins on February 22, 1972, succeeding Joe Thomas whose contract dispute with team owner Joe Robbie culminated with his resignation three day prior.[3] The Dolphins won the following two Super Bowls.

General manager

In 1978, the Washington Redskins named Beathard general manager. During his tenure in Washington, Beathard, Russ Grimm, Joe Gibbs, and Art Monk helped lead the Redskins to three Super Bowl appearances and two championships. In addition, the 1991 championship team for the Redskins was primarily composed of players that Beathard had brought to the Redskins. Prominent draft picks for the Redskins under his tenure include Art Monk, Mark May, Russ Grimm, Dexter Manley, Charlie Brown, Darrell Green, Charles Mann, and Gary Clark. Beathard resigned prior to the 1989 NFL Draft, and spent the year as a studio analyst with NFL on NBC.[4] In 1990, Beathard joined the San Diego Chargers as general manager. In just his third season in San Diego, the organization won its first division title in more than a decade and, appeared in its first Super Bowl in 1994. He retired in 2000.

Personal life

Beathard resides with his wife Christine in Franklin, Tennessee.[5] Beathard's younger brother, Pete Beathard, was a quarterback at USC, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Oilers. One of Beathard's sons, Casey Beathard, is a country music songwriter.[6] His other son, Kurt Beathard, is a football coach, formerly the offensive coordinator for Illinois State.[7][8] His grandson, Jeffery "Bobo" Beathard, played four years at Appalachian State University as a wide receiver; while other grandsons, C. J. Beathard is a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and Tucker Beathard is a singer-songwriter. In December 2019, another one of Beathard's grandsons, Clayton Beathard, an LIU Sharks quarterback, along with another individual; were murdered in a bar fight in Nashville, Tennessee defending a woman.[9]

Beathard participated in the 1984 New York City Marathon.[10] From 2005 to 2009, Beathard was a consecutive 5 time first place winner in the men's age 65 and over group at the World Bodysurfing Championships held annually in Oceanside, California.[11] Beathard was inducted into the Cal Poly Mustangs Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.[12] He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Chargers Hall of Fame in 2018.[13][14]

References
  1. Brown, Daniel. "49ers Analysis: How rookie C.J. Beathard showed promise of better days ahead," The Mercury News (San Jose, CA), Sunday, August 20, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2020
  2. Attner, Paul; Shapiro, Leonard (April 12, 1981). "BOBBY BEATHARD". Retrieved December 25, 2017 – via www.WashingtonPost.com.
  3. Wallace, William N. "Cards Get Anderson, Send Lane to Packers," The New York Times, Wednesday, February 23, 1972. Retrieved September 27, 2020
  4. Doerschuk, Steve. "Bobby Beathard had to fight his way to Hog Heaven". CantonRep.com. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  5. "Bobby Beathard". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  6. "Casey Beathard". Broadcast Music Incorporated. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  7. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/college-coach-abruptly-quits-puts-all-lives-matter-to-our-lord-sign-on-office-door-while-leaving
  8. "Illinois State Athletics". www.goredbirds.com.
  9. "What we know about the fatal stabbing that killed 2 outside a Midtown bar". Tennessean.com. December 22, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  10. Bock, Hal (October 26, 1984). "Marathon Week can be hazardous to health". Times-News. Hendersonville, North Carolina. AP. p. 17. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-29. Retrieved 2014-09-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Cal Poly". Cal Poly. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  13. "Longtime Chargers GM Bobby Beathard Elected to Hall of Fame". Los Angeles Chargers. 2018-02-03. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
  14. Miller, Jeff (September 7, 2018). "Joey Bosa to miss Chargers' opener with left foot injury". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
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