Steve Leonard DeOssie (born November 22, 1962) is a former

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 wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and long snapper 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 majo ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, New York Jets and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

Early years

DeOssie attended the now defunct Don Bosco Technical High School in Boston, Massachusetts, playing for head coach Bob Currier. He also played

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. He received All-state honors in football,

and

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 (appr ...

. He accepted a football scholarship from

, where he was a four-year starter at

middle linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and the team's long snapper. Early in his career he was used at fullback in short-yardage situations. Which included a key block enabling BC to upset #11

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. As a junior, he had a career-high 135 tackles, while helping the Eagles reach their first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

in 41 years ( Tangerine Bowl). As a senior, he had 111 tackles, even though he was slowed by a separated shoulder. He earned All-East honors in his last two seasons, was a tri-captain, led the team in tackles in his last 3 years and finished with a school record with 447 career tackles. In 1997, he was inducted into the

Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

DeOssie was selected by the

in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 1984 NFL Draft, after dropping because he was selected by the New Jersey Generals in the first round (15th overall) of the

1984 USFL Draft The 1984 USFL Draft was the second collegiate draft of the United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league playe ...

. As a rookie, besides being the long snapper on punts, he was the backup linebacker behind rookie Eugene Lockhart. He had 8 defensive tackles. He was nicknamed "Barney Rubble" by his teammates. A couple years later they nicknamed him beach ball, because of the many shades of color his face would turn in the sun. His contributions came mainly on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

as the unit long snapper and covering kickoffs. He also played in the short yardage and goal-line defenses. In 1988, he ranked third on the team in special teams tackles (20). He made his first two starts, when he was used at outside linebacker, finishing the season with 26 tackles. As described by head coach Bill Belichick on an August 30, 2011 press conference, DeOssie's ability to snap the ball and block in the same play was exploited by the Cowboys to spread the punt formations and use less blockers, revolutionizing the punt game. In June

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, he clashed with the new coaching staff that was brought by Jimmy Johnson, and was traded to the

in exchange for their sixth round draft choice (#163- Derrick Walker) in the 1990 NFL Draft. He is considered to be one of the best special teams players in Cowboys history.

New York Giants

, DeOssie became one of the starting inside linebackers in the team's 3-4 defense, playing mainly as a run defender. After the third game of the season against the Phoenix Cardinals, he suffered a left toe injury that required surgery and caused him to miss seven games, returning until November 15. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, he started 13 games and helped the Giants win Super Bowl XXV. On December 6, 1992, he was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. On November 10, 1993, new head coach

Dan Reeves Daniel Edward Reeves (January 19, 1944 – January 1, 2022) was an American football running back and coach in the National Football League (NFL). During his 38 years in the NFL, Reeves participated in nine Super Bowls, the third most for a ...

waived him from the team.

New York Jets

On November 15, 1993, he was signed by the New York Jets to help on

New England Patriots

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, he signed with the

reuniting with his former head coach Bill Parcells. He played two seasons before being waived on August 25, 1996.

Personal life

DeOssie formerly hosted ''The New England Tailgate Show'', which aired on NBC Sports Boston. He also used to work as the Patriots and NFL analyst for 93.7 WEEI Sports Radio in Boston and WHDH TV. Along with friend and colleague

Fred Smerlas Frederic Charles Smerlas (born April 8, 1957) is a former American football nose tackle who was a five-time NFL Pro Bowl selection during a 14-year career as a nose tackle with the Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots. Smer ...

, he opened the award-winning Fred & Steve's Steakhouse at the

Twin River Casino Bally's Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort, previously Twin River Casino Hotel, is a casino, hotel, and former race track in Lincoln, Rhode Island, owned and operated by Bally's Corporation. The facility has of gaming space, with 4,108 slot machin ...

in Lincoln, Rhode Island in March 2007. DeOssie is a partner in the Blackstone's Cigar Bar also at the Twin River Casino. His son,

Zak Zak may refer to: People * Zak (surname), a surname of Russian origin * Żak, a Polish surname * Žák, a Czech surname * Zak (given name) Fictional characters * Zak Adama, in the ''Battlestar Galactica'' franchise * Zak Dingle, in UK TV ''Emmer ...

, played as a long snapper in the NFL for the

. The DeOssies are the only father-son combination to win

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

s with the same team.

References

External links

Boston College bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deossie, Steve 1962 births Living people Players of American football from Tacoma, Washington Players of American football from Boston American football linebackers American football long snappers Boston College Eagles football players Dallas Cowboys players New England Patriots players New York Giants players New York Jets players American sports radio personalities Don Bosco Technical High School (Boston) alumni