Danny Joel Colbert (born December 15, 1950) 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.

Early life

Colbert was born in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

, grew up in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and graduated from South Oak Cliff High School in 1969. In high school, he starred in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

as well in football at running back and defensive back. At one 1969 national track meet in California, Colbert's long jump was 23 feet, 6.5 inches. A 2013 article from ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' concluded that South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) had produced the most talented defensive backs of any single high school in the prior 60 years of Dallas-area football. To demonstrate their point, they listed 5 players from recent decades: Colbert, along with Egypt Allen, Michael Downs, Alcy Jackson, and Rod Jones. In 1984, that same newspaper mentioned Colbert while creating an all-time Dallas-area high school all-star team. On that hypothetical team, drawn from players from all area high schools over the preceding 60 years, Colbert was on the honorable mention team.

College career

Colbert first enrolled at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

, where the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called him a "standout" on the team Colbert transferred to 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 ...

, where he played his final two years of college football. One organization concluded that Colbert was one of Tulsa's best football players, all time, at both defensive back and punt returner.

Professional career

Colbert was drafted in the ninth round of the

1974 NFL draft The 1974 NFL draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks. Many experts consider the Pittsburgh Steelers to have had t ...

by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

. He played with the Chargers for 3 seasons as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

as well as a punt and kick returner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colbert, Danny Living people 1950 births Players of American football from Corsicana, Texas American football defensive backs TCU Horned Frogs football players Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players San Diego Chargers players 20th-century American sportsmen