Gold Jacket Spotlight: No One Enjoyed Football More Than Jack Youngblood

In his book, “Time Enough to Win,” Hall of Famer Roger Staubach (Class of 1985) declared of Jack, “I consider him a phenomenal player. I’d have to give Youngblood the vote as the best defensive player I ever competed against.”

Offensive lineman and Hall of Famer (Class of 1996) Dan Dierdorf proclaimed, “I didn’t match up well against Jack. He’s the best. That’s all there is to it.”

Dierdorf suggested that additional matchups against Jack might have hindered his own accension to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, noting, “I’ll say this about Jack, and I say this with a great deal of humility: If I had to play against Jack Youngblood eight times a year, I wouldn’t be here.”

Jack’s best performance as a pro might have come against Dierdorf’s Cardinals in a 1975 playoff game. Jack recorded one sack (an unofficial statistic until 1982), forced a fumble, blocked an extra-point attempt and returned an intercepted Jim Hart pass 47 yards for a touchdown.

Jack’s ability, effort and grit might have been best, and most humorously, surmised by Hall of Fame coach John Madden (Class of 2006) with his oft-repeated line, “If a Martian landed in my backyard, knocked on my door and asked, ‘What’s a football player?’ I’d say, “Go get me Jack Youngblood.”

Jack played in 201 consecutive games, was named as the UPI 1975 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1970s. He participated in seven consecutive Pro Bowls (1973-79), was chosen as All-NFC seven times and an All-Pro on five occasions.

He accumulated accolades and made a Super Bowl appearance, but many fans remember Jack as the man who played with a fractured fibula in 1979.

During a divisional playoff game against the Cowboys, Jack suffered the injury in the first half. After Jack encouraged team training personnel to “tape the thing up, give me two more aspirin and let’s go play,” he completed that game.

Jack proceeded to play the NFC Championship Game, Super Bowl XIV and Pro Bowl with the broken bone.

“Just to have a guy like that suiting up. You know he’s been wounded. You know everybody has to step back and say, ‘Wow, that’s what the game is all about,’” teammate Larry Brooks said.

When questioned by Sports Illustrated about his decision to play in the Pro Bowl, Jack amusingly offered, “I wasn't going to miss the party. I'm going to Hawaii. We're going (to go) and have a Mai Tai.”

Olsen, Jack’s presenter at his Hall of Fame enshrinement, noted: “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who enjoyed playing football more than Jack Youngblood.”

An “Insight” article from the 1979 Pro Bowl Program concurred with Olson’s belief, declaring, “Jack Youngblood plays football the way my 8-year-old daughter licks frosting bowls. It might not be religion, but it’s close and obviously enjoyable.”