Joshua Gibson Booty (born April 29, 1975) is a former
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professiona ...
and
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
player. Booty played briefly in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
(MLB) as a
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...
, and also in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
(NFL) as a
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
.
High school (1990–1994)
Booty went to
Evangel Christian Academy
Evangel Christian Academy is a private, Christian school in Shreveport, Louisiana with two campuses spanning grades K-12. It is owned & operated privately in association with Shreveport Community Church (formerly First Assembly of God Church) whic ...
in Shreveport, Louisiana. Josh's father Johnny was an All-American high school football player as well at Shreveport's Woodlawn High School (which produced NFL quarterbacks
Terry Bradshaw
Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst a ...
and
Joe Ferguson
Joseph Carlton Ferguson Jr. (born April 23, 1950) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Arkansas.
Early ye ...
in the 1960s), and was the athletic director at Evangel Christian. He was also one of the founders of the Evangel school that turned into a football factory. Booty was named to the All-Time National High School All-American team by Dick Butkus. Joe Namath, and John Elway were the other two QB's mentioned on the All-Time team.
As quarterback for the football team, he threw for 11,700 yards and 126 touchdowns, becoming the first high school player in history to throw for more than 10,000 yards (despite missing the last four games of his senior year because of a broken hand). Booty was named the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year and was named the National High School Player of the Year by at least six associations, including Parade and the Football News.
Evangel won the
Louisiana High School Athletic Association
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana.
Organization
LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in ...
Class 1A state championship in 1993, the first of 11 the Eagles would win between 1993 and 2006.
Booty's main competition for the 1993 awards was
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Col ...
, who was then a senior at
Isidore Newman School
Isidore Newman School is a private, nondenominational, co-educational college preparatory school located on an campus in the uptown section of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Jeré Longman of ''The New York Times'' described Isidore Newman as "one of ...
Major League Baseball Draft
The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...
by the
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The fra ...
.
Highly recruited by major college football programs from across the country, Booty decided to sign with the Marlins for a then-record $1.6 million signing bonus.
Baseball career (1994–1998)
Booty was the fifth pick overall in the first round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft (1994). Booty spent five years in the Marlins organization, and was a career .269 hitter in the major leagues. The Marlins reportedly paid him $1.6 million, a then draft signing bonus record, if he did not play football in the duration of his contract, but he decided to pursue a career in pro football. He hit 20-plus home runs in single and double A minor league stops and was voted the Minor League Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 for the
Portland Sea Dogs
The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
The Sea Dogs became part of the Red Sox syst ...
. He hit .198 in his minor league career.
In 2013, Booty spent spring training in Arizona with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a knuckleball pitcher after winning
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Co ...
Curley Hallman
Hudson "Curley" Hallman (born September 3, 1947) is a former American football player and current coach. He was hired as the Defensive Cooridinator for the University of Alabama on January 13, 2023. He served as the head coach at the University of ...
, but instead signed a baseball contract.
During two years there, he completed 49.3% of his passes for 3,951 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Freshman season
Booty beat out two future NFL draft picks, Craig Nall and Rohan Davey, for the starting job. The Tigers did not have much success, and head coach
Gerry DiNardo
Gerard Paul DiNardo (born November 10, 1952) is a former American football player and coach. He played college football as a guard for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish where he was selected as an All-American in 1974. DiNardo served as the head ...
was fired during the season.
Sophomore season
During his sophomore season (2000), under Coach
Nick Saban
Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...
, Booty started the first four games of the season.
In LSU's 58–0 victory over Western Carolina he completed 80.0% of his passes for 291 yards, throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions. In LSU's 28–13 victory over Houston he completed 44.0% of his passes for 175 yards, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions. In LSU's 34-17 loss to No. 24 Auburn he completed 44.8% of his passes for 214 yards, throwing two touchdowns and one interception. In LSU's 13-10 loss to UAB he completed 39.5% of his passes for 156 yards. He threw an interception along the left sideline on what turned out to be the Tigers' final offensive play of the game, turning the ball over to the Blazers in field goal range. UAB won on a 32-yard Rhett Gallego field goal with no time left.
Booty did not play in next game against No. 11 Tennessee because of a rib injury. Davey quarterbacked a 38–31 overtime victory over Tennessee in Tiger Stadium. Davey only completed 33.3% of his passes against Florida, throwing no touchdowns and one interception, so Booty took over with 10:32 left in the third quarter while the score was Florida 24, LSU 3. Booty finished the game, completing 62.5% of his passes for 184 yards, throwing one touchdown. The final score was Florida 41, LSU 9.
Booty was starting quarterback for the rest of the season:
*LSU's 34–0 victory over Kentucky (completing 45.5% of his passes for 225 yards, throwing three touchdowns and no interceptions)
*LSU's 45–38 OT victory over #13 Mississippi State (completing 63.2% of his passes for 246 yards, throwing two touchdowns, and one interception)
*LSU's 30–28 victory over Alabama (completing 58.1% of his passes for 275 yards, throwing for four touchdowns and no interceptions). This competition is known as the "It's About Time" game because it was the first time in 31 years that LSU had defeated Alabama at home.
*LSU's 20–9 victory at Ole Miss (completing 53.3% of his passes for 290 yards, throwing one touchdown and no interceptions)
*LSU's 14-3 loss to Arkansas (completing 22.2% of his passes for 65 yards, throwing no touchdowns and two interceptions) in pouring rain and windy conditions
During Booty's nine games as a starter, LSU went 6–3, as Booty threw 17 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Booty finished his sophomore season throwing for 2,121 yards, which at the time was the third-best performance by a sophomore in LSU history, behind Jeff Wickersham's 1983 sophomore season (2,542 yards) and
Tommy Hodson
Thomas Paul Hodson (born January 28, 1967) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers of Louisiana State University, where he holds several school passing record ...
's 1987 sophomore season (2,125 yards). Booty was voted to the first-team All-SEC Team, becoming the first LSU quarterback to be awarded that honor since
Tommy Hodson
Thomas Paul Hodson (born January 28, 1967) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers of Louisiana State University, where he holds several school passing record ...
.
At the end of the 2000 season, LSU went to the Peach Bowl and posted a 28–14 victory over No. 15 Georgia Tech. Booty played the first half and completed 42.1% of his passes for no touchdowns and no interceptions. Trailing 14-3 at halftime, Saban yanked Booty and inserted Davey, who helped LSU outscore the Yellow Jackets 25-0 in the second half.
Professional football career
Booty was taken as the 177th pick (6th round) of the
2001 NFL Draft
The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...
by 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...
.
Booty signed with the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
in 2001 but was waived in 2003.
Personal life
One of Booty's younger brothers, Abram, was a wide receiver at
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
(1997–1999),
Valdosta State University
Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...
(2000) and a
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
wide receiver in 2001. Another brother, John David, was the starting quarterback at USC in 2007, and was drafted by the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...
in 2008. John David quarterbacked USC's victories over Michigan and Illinois in the 2007 and 2008 Rose Bowls, respectively.
He was formerly the spokesperson for TrueMRI in Beverly Hills, California, and has been involved with numerous radio and television commentating work in sports, including
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CMa ...
,
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
,
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...
.
Josh won the
MLB Network
The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Co ...
reality show "The Next Knuckler", hosted by former
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
players
Tim Wakefield
Timothy Stephen Wakefield (born August 2, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Wakefield began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but is most remembered for his 17-yea ...
and Kevin Millar. The show also included football players
Doug Flutie
Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (C ...
,
John David Booty
John David Booty (born January 3, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at USC and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.
Booty also played for the Tennessee Titans ...
Ryan Perrilloux
Ryan Anthony Perrilloux (born January 1, 1987) is an American football quarterback that played in the National Football League, Canadian Football League, Arena Football League and Ligue Élite de Football Américain in France. He played c ...
. For winning, he got a chance to go to spring training with the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. ...
as a
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...
, even though his baseball rights technically still belonged to the Marlins. He struggled with his command while pitching in minor league spring training games and was released on March 28.