David Cole Elmendorf (born June 20, 1949) 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 who was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

for nine seasons 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). He was a part of the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1979 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

team. In 1997, he was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. David attended and graduated, in 1967, from Westbury High School in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. He was a star football running back and baseball player. Dave played his college ball at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, class of 1971. Elmendorf was a 1970 All-America in football and was a twice all-American center fielder on the baseball team and was safety, kick returner and occasional tailback on the football team. He was a straight-A student, with a major in economics. He also was named Academic All-America and won a graduate scholarship from the National Football Foundation. He was selected in the

1971 MLB Draft The 1971 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1971 MLB season. The draft saw the Chicago White Sox select Danny Goodwin first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1971 Major League Base ...

by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

but chose to play football for the

. He was selected in the 3rd round of the

1971 NFL draft The 1971 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used the first overall pick ...

. Elmendorf was a starter as a rookie for the 1971 Los Angeles Rams, making the All-rookie team. In 1973, he was voted the Rams "Outstanding Defensive Back", an honor he repeated in 1974. Also, in 1974 he intercepted a career-high 7 passes, returning two for touchdowns and was named All-NFC by AP. In 1975, he was a Second-team All-Pro by the AP and NEA and was Second-team All-NFC by UPI. In his nine NFL seasons Elmendorf played in 130 games, starting all 130, and intercepted 27 passes and recovered 10 fumbles. After the NFL, he became a broadcaster on radio and TV, became a director of course acquisition for the American Golf Corporation, and in 1989 became general manager of Bear Creek Golf Club in Houston, Texas. In 2007, he was color commentator for the Texas A&M football radio broadcasts as well as being involved in other business enterprises. In 2008, he was named general manager of the Quail Valley Golf Course, located in the Quail Valley subdivision of

Missouri City, Texas Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increas ...

. Elmendorf is regarded as one of the top two-sport athletes in A&M annals for baseball and football and has been nominated for numerous broadcast honors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmendorf, Dave 1949 births Living people All-American college football players American football safeties Los Angeles Rams players Texas A&M Aggies football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Houston Players of American football from San Antonio