Donald William Hasselbeck (born April 1, 1955) is a former professional football player, a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...

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 the

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 ...

, Los Angeles Raiders,

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

, and the

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 ...

Early life

Born and raised in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, Hasselbeck attended La Salle High School, where he was an all-city selection in both football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. He played college football at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, where he majored in

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwo ...

. He is currently ranked thirty-sixth on the all-time receptions list at CU.

Professional career

Hasselbeck was selected by the

in the second round of the 1977 NFL Draft, where he played for the first six seasons of his nine-year career. He was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders early in the 1983 season; in

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conferen ...

, Hasselbeck blocked an extra point attempt by Washington. He then played for the

in 1984 and the

in 1985 before retiring; he scored the final touchdown of the Giants' season in a 17–3 NFC Wild Card victory over the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.

Family

Hasselbeck is married to Mary Beth "Betsy" (Rueve) Hasselbeck. He is the father of former NFL

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Matt Hasselbeck, formerly the starter for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

. Matt played on the Seahawks with

Lofa Tatupu Mosiula Mea'alofa "Lofa" Tatupu (born November 15, 1982) is a former American football linebacker who played six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was an assistant linebackers coach with the Seattle Seahawks. He played colleg ...

, who himself was the son of Don's teammate Mosi Tatupu. Hasselbeck's second son Tim Hasselbeck was an

NFL 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 major ...

backup quarterback who currently works for ESPN as a Fantasy Football analyst and is married to

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Elisabeth DelPadre Hasselbeck (; born May 28, 1977) is an American retired television personality and talk show host. Hasselbeck rose to prominence in 2001 as a contestant on the second season of the American version of '' Survivor'', where sh ...

. His third son, Nathanael Nicolas (born 1981), played football at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

and the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medi ...

as a defensive back. Don is the son of John William Hasselbeck and Molly M. (Lang) Hasselbeck.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselbeck, Don 1955 births American football tight ends Colorado Buffaloes football players Living people Los Angeles Raiders players Minnesota Vikings players New England Patriots players New York Giants players Players of American football from Cincinnati