Chad May (born September 28, 1971) 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 ...
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 ...
for the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...
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) in 1995 and the
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
in 1996. He was selected in the fourth round of the
1995 NFL draft
The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount ...
. He joined the
World League of American Football
NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...
(WLAF)'s
Frankfurt Galaxy in 1997. May played for the
Arizona Rattlers
The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...
in the
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...
(AFL) in 1999 and 2001. He played college football at
Kansas State in 1993 and 1994.
Early life
May attended
Damien High School in
La Verne, California
La Verne is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 31,334 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
History
The area was home to Native Americans.
The European history of the area dates back to the ...
. While there, he completed 126-of-254 passes for 1,801 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior. He earned all-league, all-city and All-San Gabriel Valley honors. He also earned all-league honors as a shortstop on the baseball team, hitting .489 as a senior.
College career
May initially played as a freshman at
Cal State Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...
in 1991, and won the starting job in the third game of the season and guided Fullerton to a 17–10 win over
Cal State Northridge. He completed 97 of 233 passes (41.6%) on the year for 1,066 yards and threw four touchdowns and nine interceptions. He transferred to
Kansas State prior to the 1992 season. He sat out the entire season due to NCAA rules.
May earned All-Big Eight honors in 1993 and 1994 while leading Kansas State to back-to-back bowl appearances. He threw for a school-record 2,682 yards (a mark since broken by
Michael Bishop followed by
Josh Freeman) in 1993 as Kansas State went 9-2-1 with a 52-17
Copper Bowl victory over
Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
in the Wildcats' first bowl appearance in 11 years. He passed for 2,571 yards in 1994 as Kansas State went 9-3 and lost 12–7 to
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...
in the
1994 Aloha Bowl. He also set a school single-game record with 489 passing yards in a 45–28 loss to
Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
in 1993.
College statistics
Career Stats
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Chad
1971 births
Living people
Sportspeople from West Covina, California
Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California
American football quarterbacks
Kansas State Wildcats football players
Frankfurt Galaxy players
Arizona Rattlers players
Sportspeople from La Verne, California
Minnesota Vikings players