John Roderick (born ''John William Roderick''; August 21, 1944)) is a former professional

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 ...

wide receiver.

Career

Roderick played three seasons in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL), playing two with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

and one with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

. Previously, he had been drafted by 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 club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

in the fourth round of the

1966 NFL Draft The 1966 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick in each of the first five r ...

and by the

in the first round of the Redshirt phase of the

1966 AFL Draft The 1966 American Football League draft was held on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The AFL added the Miami Dolphins as an expansion team in 1966 to bring its total to nine franchises for its seventh season. The Dolphins were awarded the first over ...

. He played at the collegiate level at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , pr ...

. 1963

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

• The 1963 season provided the SMU football program with one of its most memorable games when the Mustangs hosted fourth-ranked Navy and its heralded quarterback,

Roger Staubach Roger Thomas Staubach (, -; , -; born February 5, 1942), nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for ...

, on October 11, 1963, at the Cotton Bowl. On its way to a 4–7 season, SMU was given little chance to beat the Midshipmen. Little-known sophomore John Roderick rushed for 146 yards on 11 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 45 and two yards for the Mustangs. The SMU defense, led by Bob Oyler, Martin Cude, Bill Harlan, Harold Magers and Doug January, sent Staubach to the bench twice with a dislocated left shoulder. Trailing 28–26 with 2:52 remaining in the game, SMU had one last chance to pull off the upset. Quarterback Danny Thomas threw to Billy Gannon, who ran to the Navy 46. On the next play, Roderick took a pitch-out 23 yards to the 23. After a pass interference penalty against Navy put the ball on the one-yard line, Gannon plowed over right tackle for the winning touchdown with 2:05 left. The SMU defense held off Staubach's valiant effort to rally his team for one last score, as the Mustangs pulled off the 32–28 upset. Despite a 4–6 regular season record, SMU parlayed the victory over Navy earlier that season into a Sun Bowl berth against Oregon. Oregon defeated SMU, 21–14. Son sold his 1966 Dolphins playbook on an episode of ''Pawn Stars'' in 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5rB0SvVfeM&t=2s&ab_channel=PawnStars

References

Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas Miami Dolphins players Oakland Raiders players American football wide receivers SMU Mustangs football players 1944 births Living people American Football League players {{widereceiver-1940s-stub