Diron Vester Talbert (born July 1, 1944) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

Football career

Talbert played college football at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

where he was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Fame in 2005. Talbert played for the

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

from 1967 to 1970. He was traded along with

Jack Pardee John Perry Pardee (April 19, 1936 – April 1, 2013) was an American football linebacker and the only head coach to helm a team in college football, the National Football League (NFL), the United States Football League (USFL), the World Footb ...

Maxie Baughan Maxie Callaway Baughan Jr. (born August 3, 1938) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, and the Washington Redskins. Baughan played college foot ...

, Myron Pottios, John Wilbur, Jeff Jordan and a

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

fifth-round pick (124th overall–traded to

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

for

Boyd Dowler Boyd Hamilton Dowler (born October 18, 1937) is a former professional football player, a wide receiver in the National Football League. He played 12 seasons from 1959 to 1971, 11 with the Green Bay Packers and one with the Washington Redskins. ...

) from the Rams to the Redskins for Marlin McKeever, first and third rounders in

(10th and 63rd overall–

Isiah Robertson Isiah "Butch" Robertson (August 17, 1949 – December 6, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams (1971–1978) and the Buffalo Bills (1979–1982). He was selected to six Pro Bowls durin ...

and Dave Elmendorf respectively) and third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounders in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

(73rd, 99th, 125th, 151st and 177th overall–to

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, traded to

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

for Joe Carollo, Bob Christiansen,

Texas Southern Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...

defensive tackle Eddie Herbert and to

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

respectively) on January 28, 1971. In 1971, he began playing defensive tackle for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

until his retirement in 1980. It was during this period that Talbert played an iconic role as part of the long-standing 1970s rivalry between the Redskins and the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. Talbert was a key member of 1972 NFC Championship team. He played for 14 NFL seasons for a total of 186 games. He went to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

after the 1974 season.

After football

After retiring from football, Talbert entered the investment business and was involved with hotels, real estate and oil. He also owns and operates a retail grocery business along with his brother Don in

Rosenberg, Texas Rosenberg is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. The population was 38,282 at the 2020 census, up from 30,618 at the 2010 census. The community hol ...

Personal life

His older brother Don Talbert also played in the NFL. Prior to attending the

, both of the Talbert brothers were high school linemen at

Texas City High School Texas City High School (TCHS) is a public high school in Texas City, Texas, in the Greater Houston area. It is one of two high schools in the Texas City Independent School District (TCISD), the other being La Marque High School. The main school ...

Texas City, Texas Texas City is a city in Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and petrochemical-manufacturi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbert, Diron 1944 births Living people American football defensive tackles Los Angeles Rams players Washington Redskins players National Conference Pro Bowl players Texas Longhorns football players People from Texas City, Texas