Walter Jackson Burkett (December 16, 1936 – September 1, 2017) was an

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

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

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) for the

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 ...

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

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

Early years

Burkett began playing sports at Andalusia High School, where he was a three-sport athlete (football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

). After his sophomore season he transferred to Choctawhatchee High School and became a two-year starter in football. As a junior, he played center on offense and

on defense. In his last year he was moved to

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and received All-conference honors. He was also captain of the

team.

College career

Burkett accepted a scholarship from

, where he was a two-way player, playing center and

, while also calling the defensive signals. He was named a starter as a sophomore and was a part of a team that won the SEC and the National championship. That squad was led by its defense, which registered 6 shutouts in 10 games and allowed 28 total points in the season (no more than 7 points in any game). In his last year he was limited with a chronic shoulder injury, that caused it to be discolcated several times. During his college career, his teams had a 26–3–1 record and were a part of two undefeated seasons. He also practiced

and

(only as a freshman). In 1988, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He also was named to the Auburn All-Century football team and Walk of Fame.

Professional career

Baltimore Colts

Burkett was selected by the

in the first round (12th overall) of the 1959 NFL draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over. He was also selected by the New York Titans in the

1960 AFL draft The 1960 American Football League draft was held on November 22–23, 1959, in Minneapolis, shortly after the organization of the league, and lasted 33 rounds. An additional draft of 20 rounds was held by the AFL on December 2. Teams were requ ...

. As a rookie, he suffered from shoulder problems in preseason, so he was operated on and placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

. In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, he was named a starter in a linebacker corps that included Bill Pellington and Don Shinnick. He was mostly a backup during his time with the Colts.

New Orleans Saints (first stint)

Burkett became one of the original members of the

, after being selected in the

1967 NFL expansion draft The 1967 National Football League expansion draft was a National Football League (NFL) draft held on February 9, 1967 in which a new expansion team named the New Orleans Saints selected its first players. On November 1, 1966 (All Saints Day), NFL ...

and playing in 14 regular season games as a backup

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

. On August 28,

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, he was traded to the

in exchange for

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

Jim Boeke.

Dallas Cowboys

, after trading top linebacker backup Harold Hays, the

acquired Burkett and Dave Simmons for depth purposes. He played in only three games, after suffering a broken left fibula against the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

on October 28. The next season, he appeared in 11 games as a backup. On June 23,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, he was traded to the

in exchange for

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 ...

Dave Whitsell and rookie

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Tom Broadhead.

New Orleans Saints (second stint)

, he started 10 games at

and was also the team´s

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

. On November 8 against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

, he became a part of league history, when he snapped the ball that Tom Dempsey kicked on the final play of a 19–17 win, for a then NFL record 63-yard field goal. He retired after the season.

Personal life

He co-owned a restaurant in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

for five years (1968–73). He also worked as a sales manager for a pipe business and as the marketing vice president with the engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan, that designed bridges and roads. He was the county commissioner in Fort Walton Beach from 2000 to 2008. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

on September 1, 2017, aged 80.

References

External links

Catching Up with former Colts linebacker Jackie BurkettHall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkett, Jackie 1936 births 2017 deaths People from Chilton County, Alabama Players of American football from Chilton County, Alabama Players of American football from Fort Walton Beach, Florida American football centers American football linebackers Choctawhatchee High School alumni Auburn Tigers football players Baltimore Colts players New Orleans Saints players Dallas Cowboys players