Tim Ruddy (born April 27, 1972) 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 center for the

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

of the

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(NFL) from

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. 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 ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

High school

* Attended Dunmore High School in Dunmore, PA, playing football under legendary coach Jack Henzes * Named honorable mention

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by ''

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'' as a Senior * Selected as 15th best prospect in the nation by ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' * Won the state championship in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

as a senior, took third in the state in the discus that year * Earned two letters as two-way tackle,

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 ...

and kicker * Lettered three times in track, performing in the discus and shot put * Graduated from Dunmore High School with perfect 4.0

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

* Nicknamed 'Big Master'

College career

Ruddy attended The

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

from 1990 to 1994. He was a four-year letterman and two year starter during this time. As a senior, he elected as one of the team's captains and was selected as a second-team All-America and first-team All-Independent by '' The Football News'' and the

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. Ruddy also posted a perfect 4.0 GPA his junior and senior years at Notre Dame. He graduated summa cum laude with a 3.86 GPA and holds a B.S. in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

. He also earned post-graduate scholarships from the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and the National Football Foundation. He was named as an Academic All-American during both his junior and senior years, and was named the GTE Academic All American of the Year in his senior season.

Professional career

Ruddy was the second-round draft choice (65th overall) of Miami in

. Ruddy started 140 games of his 156 games played, in which all 16 of those non-starts were his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

year, but he saw time in all of them. He missed only 4 regular season games during his 10-year career. During most of his career, he was the center for

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1961) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He played college f ...

, who has held almost every meaningful NFL passing record and is widely recognized as one of the greatest quarterbacks in football history. He also anchored the line in 2002 for Ricky Williams's NFL rushing title, which included two 200+ yard rushing games. During Ruddy's 10 years with the Dolphins(1994–2003), the team made the playoffs 7 times, and never posted a losing record for the season. In 2001, Ruddy was named to his first and only

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

. Ruddy was the first Miami center to be selected to the Pro Bowl since

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

center Dwight Stephenson in 1987. The last year of Ruddy's career was plagued by injury and his playing time was limited. Ruddy was released by Miami following the 2003 season. It was rumored he talked to a few teams after his departure from Miami, but did not sign with any team. Ruddy was elected team captain 3 times and was selected as one of the top 40 Miami Dolphin players of all time. He was named as a second team offensive line selection to the Pennsylvania Football News All-Century Team. In 2020, he was elected into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame

References

External links

The Pennsylvania Football News All-Century TeamPennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame - Tim Ruddy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddy, Tim 1972 births Living people American Conference Pro Bowl players American football centers Miami Dolphins players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Players of American football from Scranton, Pennsylvania