Ladelle Andrews Hamilton Jr. (born April 8, 1950) is a former

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 with ...

wide receiver who played three seasons 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 ...

(NFL) with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

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 league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was drafted by the Chiefs in the fourth round of the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Early years

Hamilton played high school football at

Ruston High School Ruston High School is a four-year public high school located in the Lincoln Parish School District of Ruston, Louisiana, United States. The school has an enrollment of approximately 1300 students with 85 faculty members; the mascot is the Bea ...

Ruston, Louisiana Ruston is a small city and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in the Eastern Ark-La-Tex region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 21,859, reflecting an increase of 6.4 percent ...

. While at Ruston, he played receiver while his cousin,

Bert Jones Bertram Hays Jones (born September 7, 1951) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. At Ruston High School in Ruston, Louisiana, he was given the ...

, played quarterback.

College career

Hamilton played for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

from 1968 to 1971. He played for LSU's freshman team in 1968. Hamilton also played with Bert Jones at LSU. He caught 109 passes for 2,141 yards and 18 touchdowns during his college career. He also rushed for 65 yards and 5 touchdowns. Hamilton set LSU career records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He tied an

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

record with 9 receptions in the

1971 Orange Bowl The 1971 Orange Bowl was the 37th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Friday, January 1. Part of the 1970–71 bowl season, it matched the third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, champions of the ...

. He also tied an LSU record for touchdown catches in a game when he caught three in a victory against Notre Dame in 1971.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Hamilton was selected by the

with the 97th pick in the

and subsequently signed with the team. He missed the entire 1972 season due to a shoulder injury. He made his NFL debut on November 4, 1973, against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

. He had missed the earlier parts of the season due to injuries. He played in five games for the Chiefs in 1973, catching 2 passes for 35 yards. He played in 10 games in 1974, catching 2 passes for 25 yards. He was released by the Chiefs on September 16, 1975.

New Orleans Saints

Hamilton played in 9 games for the

during the 1975 season, catching 12 passes for 210 yards.

Personal Testimony in Tiger Stadium

In 1970, Hamilton spoke at the

Billy Graham Crusade William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

in LSU's Tiger Stadium. He gave witness to his Christian faith, saying: "One thing gives me more satisfaction han winningand that's knowing Jesus Christ is in my heart." He was a member of the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was found ...

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Andy Living people 1950 births Players of American football from Louisiana American football wide receivers LSU Tigers football players Kansas City Chiefs players New Orleans Saints players Sportspeople from Ruston, Louisiana Ruston High School alumni