Howard Andrew Spiva (February 6, 1955 – April 3, 1979) was an

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 ...

player for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

of 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). He appeared in 13 games for the Falcons in 1977. He was killed in a car accident. Teammate Garth TenNapel was in the same vehicle and was seriously injured.

Biography

Spiva was born on February 6, 1955, in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. He attended Chamblee High School in

Chamblee, Georgia Chamblee ( ) is a city in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The population was 30,164 as of the 2020 census. History The area that would later become Chamblee was originally dairy farms. During the late ninet ...

and the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. At Tennessee, Spiva was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection. He was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

in the fifth round of the

1977 NFL draft The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...

. Spiva was released by St. Louis that year when the team made its final preseason cuts. He was signed by the

shortly thereafter. Falcons coach

Leeman Bennett Leeman Bennett (born June 20, 1938) is a former American football coach who served at both the collegiate and professional levels, but is best remembered as head coach of the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. E ...

said that the team had become impressed with Spiva when they played Spiva and the Cardinals in a preseason game. He played in 13 games for the Falcons in 1977. Prior to the 1978 season, Spiva was the top middle linebacker on Atlanta's depth chart before suffering a preseason knee injury. He underwent surgery to repair torn ligaments a few days after sustaining the injury. On April 3, 1979, Spiva was driving in rainy conditions when his sports car slid off of a street in the Atlanta area and it collided with a tree. Spiva died at Northside Hospital that day after sustaining head and chest injuries. His teammate Garth TenNapel was seriously injured in the crash. Spiva and TenNapel had been close friends since going through knee rehabilitation together the previous year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiva, Andy 1955 births 1979 deaths Tennessee Volunteers football players Players of American football from Chattanooga, Tennessee People from Chamblee, Georgia Players of American football from DeKalb County, Georgia Atlanta Falcons players American football linebackers Road incident deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)