Howard Melvin Stevens Jr. (born February 9, 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 who was a

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and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

in the

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(NFL) for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

and

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

. He is among the smallest players to have ever played in the NFL and was the smallest player in the league during his five active seasons, 1973 through 1977.

College

Stevens started his college career at Randolph-Macon College, where he was named All-American in 1968 (honorable mention) and 1969 (second-team). On a team that won the

Mason–Dixon Conference The Mason–Dixon Conference is a defunct NCAA Division II (former ''NCAA College Division'') athletics conference, formed in 1936 and disbanded in October 1978. A track championship bearing the conference's name continued for several years after ...

championship with a 9–0–0 record in his

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year, he was the league Most Valuable Player as the NCAA College Division leader in scoring and rushing with 142 points and 1,468 yards respectively and was featured in '' Faces in the Crowd'' in the January 20, 1969 issue of ''

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''. He transferred to the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

where he earned a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in Psychology. Stevens played only two seasons for Louisville but has been inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. In 1972, Stevens was named to the

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, the Walter Camp and the Football News all-American football teams and the

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Second-team. The University of Louisville retired Stevens' jersey in 1972. He set a school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,429 yards in 1971 while scoring 12 touchdowns. He is currently ranked fourth all-time in school history with 2,723 rushing yards and is sixth with 25 career touchdowns.

NFL

Stevens, who was listed at tall and ., was selected by the

in the 16th round (392nd overall) of the 1973 Draft. He played two years for the Saints, lead the NFL in 1974 in kick-off and punt returns. In 1975, Stevens was picked up by the Baltimore Colts where he was used exclusively as a kick-off and punt returner. During his tenure in the NFL, he was the league's smallest player. He rushed for a total of 376 yards on 89 carries and scored 4 touchdowns. As a kick returner he ran for 2336 yards on 103 returns. He returned 163 punts for 1,559 yards. He never returned a kick-off or punt for a touchdown.

Later years

After leaving the Baltimore Colts, Stevens remained in the Baltimore area. He and his wife Joyce have three adult children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Howard 1950 births Living people Baltimore Colts players New Orleans Saints players People from Harrisonburg, Virginia Louisville Cardinals football players Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets football players