Derrick Tyrone Gaffney (born May 24, 1955) is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver 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 ma ...

(NFL) for eight seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Gaffney played college football for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Jets of the NFL.

Early years

Gaffney was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1955.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Derrick Gaffney
Retrieved August 4, 2010. He attended

William M. Raines High School William Marion Raines Senior High School is a historically black high school in Jacksonville, Florida. The school is located off Moncrief Road in Jacksonville, Florida's northside at the corner Raines Avenue in northwest Jacksonville. Raines serv ...

in Jacksonville,databaseFootball.com, Players
Derrick Gaffney
. Retrieved August 4, 2010. and he played high school football for the Raines Vikings.

College career

Gaffney accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, wher ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division ...

team from

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 158 & 181 (2011). Retrieved August 29, 2011. Memorably, Gaffney caught a ninety-nine-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

from

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

in the Gators' 48–3 victory over the

Rice Owls Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of Conference USA, Rice sponsors teams in seven men's and seven women's NCAA sanctio ...

in 1977, which tied the then-current

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

record and remains the longest touchdown pass in

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) history. While he was a Florida undergraduate, Gaffney was also a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

Fraternity A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, "brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in ...

Professional career

The New York Jets chose Gaffney in the eighth round (197th pick overall) in the

1978 NFL Draft The 1978 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 May 2–3, 1978, at the Roosevelt Hot ...

,Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1978 National Football League Draft
Retrieved August 4, 2010. and he played for the Jets from to and again in .National Football League, Historical Players
Derrick Gaffney
Retrieved August 4, 2010. His single best season was his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

year in , when he caught thirty-eight passes for 691 yards. Gaffney

started "Started" is a song recorded by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea for her second studio album ''In My Defense''. The song was written by Azalea alongside Ronny Wright and produced by American record producer J. White Did It. It was released by Ba ...

sixty-eight of 100 games in which he played for the Jets, and finished his NFL career with 156

s for 2,613 yards and seven touchdowns.

Gaffney football family

Gaffney's older brother,

Don Gaffney Donald G. Gaffney (born February 1, 1954) is an American former college football player and politician. Gaffney was the first African-American to play quarterback for the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida, and was later ...

, was the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators from the middle of the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

season through the end of

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

to become the starter at the quarterback position for the Gators. Gaffney is also the father of former NFL wide receiver

Jabar Gaffney Derrick Jabar Gaffney (born December 1, 1980) is an American former football wide receiver. He played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the ...

and the uncle of former NFL cornerback

Lito Sheppard Lito Decorian Sheppard (born April 8, 1981) is an American football coach and former cornerback. During his playing career, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first ...

. Both Jabar Gaffney and Lito Sheppard played for the Florida Gators in the early 2000s.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffney, Derrick 1955 births Living people African-American players of American football American football wide receivers Florida Gators football players New York Jets players Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida William M. Raines High School alumni National Football League replacement players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople