Robert Allen Young (September 3, 1942 – June 17, 1995) was an American 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 an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative (Netherlands), Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tende ...

for 16 seasons in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) and

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). 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 ...

for the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets.

Early life

Young was born September 3, 1942, in

Marshall, Texas Marshall is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Harrison County, Texas, Harrison County and a cultural and educational center of the Ark-La-Tex region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population of ...

, to Richard and Laverne Young. He spent his childhood in Brownwood, Texas where he set the state (class 4A) shot put record in 1960.

College career

Young started his college career at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

where he was named the Southwest Conferences outstanding freshman lineman, but in 1961 he transferred to

Howard Payne University Howard Payne University is a Private university, private Baptist university in Brownwood, Texas, United States. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Noah T. Byers and John David Robnett founded Howard Payne College in 18 ...

to be closer to home. At HPU he competed in both football and track, where he threw the shot put. In 1986, he was inducted into the HPU Sports Hall of Fame.

Pro career

He started his career with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, playing five seasons. In his first eight seasons of the league, he did not take focus on his health. In the summer of 1974, this would change when he walked into a gym and liked what he saw in terms of fitness. By the time he walked into training camp that season, he had gained 50 pounds that shocked his coaches. It soon spread to having other Cardinal offensive linemen work on their physique with modern

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

that eventually became a league obsession. That season, the offensive line quintet of tackles

Roger Finnie Roger Lewis Finnie (November 6, 1945 – August 6, 2012) was an American professional football offensive tackle and defensive tackle who played eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Finnie played college football for Florida A&M ...

Dan Dierdorf Daniel Lee Dierdorf (born June 29, 1949) is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. He played 13 seasons (1971–1983) as an offensive tackle for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Dierdor ...

, center Tom Banks, and guards in Conrad Dobler and Young allowed just eight sacks in the entire fourteen-game season (the next time the Cardinals had three games with no sacks taken would not come until 2024). Young was named to two Pro Bowls (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

) and was a first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

selection in 1979 as well. A hit he suffered in the Pro Bowl in 1979 would soon hasten the end of his career, as St. Louis cut him at the end of the 1979 season. Years later, Young admitted to his wife that he never felt any better than when he was on steroids. Young freely admitted to his use of steroids in his playing career, stating that he used it lightly in college before eventually using them for eight seasons when his brother convinced him about steroids being safe in moderation, which he would use in his later days in St. Louis and in Houston. He played just two games in 1981 for the Saints and retired. In 1986, he was inducted into the

Sports Hall of Fame for his playing career in football along with track and field.

Power lifting

He was the older brother of three-time world powerlifting champion Doug Young. Young competed in the inaugural

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...

contest in 1977, finishing second to weightlifter Bruce Wilhelm. He also finished 5th in the 1979 World's Strongest Man.

Coaching career

After his pro career, Young coached in the USFL from 1982 to 1986 as an offensive line coach for the

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducin ...

. He coached the offensive line at

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

from 1987 to 1989, and for the

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 ...

from 1990 to 1995.

Death

Young was married three times. After his career ended, he maintained a smoking habit and was considered obese to go along with having

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. On June 17, 1995, Young died of a heart attack at age 52.

References

External links

NFL.com player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Bob 1942 births 1995 deaths American football offensive guards Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Denver Broncos players St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Houston Oilers players National Conference Pro Bowl players American powerlifters American strength athletes New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Marshall, Texas 20th-century American sportsmen