Jerry Byron Rhome (born March 6, 1942) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

and

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

. He closed out his professional career with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

Early life

Rhome attended Sunset High School in Texas, where he played football for his father, Byron Rhome. He also practiced

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. Rhome accepted a football scholarship from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

(SMU). He became a starter at

as a sophomore, registering 74 completions (led the conference) out of 129 attempts (second in the conference) for 693 yards (second in the conference), one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

and 6 interceptions. In 1961, he transferred to the

after a 2–7–1 football season, which led to the firing of head coach

Bill Meek William Meridas Meek (August 14, 1920 – May 28, 1998)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 19 ...

. In 1963 after sitting out a year, Rhome starred at Tulsa, passing for 1,909 yards, 10 touchdowns, and suffering 13 interceptions. He improved as a senior, with 2,870 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions, while leading the nation in total offense (3,128 yards). He finished second in the voting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

—to

John Huarte John Gregory Huarte (; born April 6, 1944) is an American former professional football quarterback who played with several teams in the American Football League (AFL), the National Football League (NFL), and in the World Football League (WFL) be ...

of Notre Dame—in one of the closest elections ever recorded. Rhome held a number of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

records, including the largest number of

s in a game, in a season, and the most consecutive passes without an

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

in a football season and in his career. Rhome also won the

Sammy Baugh Trophy The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More ...

in 1964, and had his Number 17 jersey retired by the school. In 1984, he was inducted into the University of Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1988, he was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. He also was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas High School Hall of Fame, the Inaugural Class of the Dallas Independent School District Athletic Hall of Fame and the Sunset High School Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Knowing that he had one more year of eligibility, the

selected him in the thirteenth round (172nd overall) of the

1964 NFL draft The 1964 NFL draft was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers on Monday, December 2, 1963. The first overall pick was Dave Parks, an end from Texas Tech, selected by the San Francisco 49ers. The AFL draft was two days e ...

with a future draft pick, as would the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

in the 25th round (195th overall) of the 1964 AFL Draft. Rhome began his professional career in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

as the third quarterback behind

Don Meredith Joseph Donald Meredith (April 10, 1938 – December 5, 2010), nicknamed "Dandy Don" was an American football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played as a quarterback for nine seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...

and Craig Morton; he got a chance to start one game that same year against the

(17–23 loss). He would serve in a backup role until the start of the 1969 season when

Roger Staubach Roger Thomas Staubach (, -; , -; born February 5, 1942), nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 se ...

joined the team, and at his request the Cowboys traded Rhome to the

in exchange for a third round draft choice, later used to select Charlie Waters in the

1970 NFL draft The 1970 NFL draft was the 35th National Football League draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, 1970, at the Belmont ...

Cleveland Browns

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, although Rhome was a backup to Bill Nelsen, the information he provided about the Cowboys offense helped the Browns beat them in a 38-14 Conference Championship playoff win. On January 27,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, he was traded to the

in exchange for a third round draft choice, that they gave back to the

in payment for their original trade.

Houston Oilers

Rhome would only play as a backup for the

for a year. On August 17,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, he was waived after the team decided to keep rookies Dan Pastorini and

Lynn Dickey Clifford Lynn Dickey (born October 19, 1949) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Kansas State Wildc ...

, to back up starter Charley Johnson.

Los Angeles Rams

On August 19,

, he was claimed off the waiver wire by the

, where he was a backup for one year. On August 24,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, he was released after the Rams acquired quarterback Pete Beathard.

Montreal Alouettes

In October

, he signed with the

of the

. On December 18, he announced his retirement.

Coaching life

After he finished his pro playing career, Rhome became an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa. Next, his first of many NFL coaching jobs was with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. Then while with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, he earned a Super Bowl championship ring. Rhome is also credited with the signing of future hall of fame

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Steve Largent Stephen Michael Largent (born September 28, 1954) is an American former professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports) ...

with the

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhome, Jerry 1942 births Living people American football quarterbacks Atlanta Falcons coaches Cleveland Browns players Dallas Cowboys coaches Dallas Cowboys players Houston Oilers coaches Houston Oilers players Los Angeles Rams players Minnesota Vikings coaches Phoenix Cardinals coaches San Diego Chargers coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches SMU Mustangs football players St. Louis Rams coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Washington Redskins coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Dallas