William Patrick Staley (born September 9, 1946) 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 ...

player. He played five years as an AFL and NFL football player for a total of 49 games. Two seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, three with the Chicago Bears

College career

Staley played defensive end at Utah State. The 25 most highly drafted football players from Utah State. Beban heads list for Heisman Trophy Title and Staley was among the top 10 which included Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson While at Utah, Staley was Playboy 1967 All-American Defense Staley played 49 games (21 starts) for the Bengals And the Chicago Bears over five seasons on the defensive line. During the second to last game at Utah state Staley suffered a shoulder separation Utah State inducted Staley in the Hall of Fame class of 1995

Professional career

Staley was selected in the second round of the 1968 NFL draft. He has the distinction of being the second-pick ever by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

franchise. Staley played under

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

who founded the Cincinnati Bengals. In 1970, the Bengals traded Staley, along with linebacker Harry Gunner, to the Chicago Bears for tackle

Rufus Mayes Rufus Lee Mayes (December 5, 1947 – January 9, 1990) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Early life Mayes grew up in Toledo, ...

. Staley retired after spending three years with the Bears.

Life after Football

Staley lives on a farm in California with his wife with chronic headaches, a crippled body, and the beginning of dementia. Staley has Traumatic Brain Injury sustained from playing in the NFL. He wears a whistle around his neck to blow to end the anger like the NFL referees when he has outbursts. Staley became deeply religious after his football career, in the 1980s becoming an anti-abortion activist. At one event outside a

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

clinic in

Ukiah, California Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokaya'', meaning "deep valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607 at the 2020 census. With its accessible location along the U.S. Route 101 corridor, Ukiah serves ...

in December 1988,

Earth First! Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar. Today there are Earth First! groups around ...

activists

Judi Bari Judith Beatrice Bari (1949–1997) was an American environmentalist, feminist, and labor leader, primarily active in Northern California after moving to the state in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was the principal organizer of Ear ...

and

Darryl Cherney Darryl Cherney (born 1956) is an American musician and environmental activist. He is a member of the Earth First! environmental movement. Born and raised in New York City, he lives in Humboldt County, California. Cherney has produced five alb ...

confronted him with a deliberately offensive parody of

Will the Circle Be Unbroken? "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel. The song is often recorded unattributed and, because of its age, has lapsed into the public domain. Most of the ch ...

, "Will the Fetus Be Aborted?" A few days after the car bombing attempt on Bari's life on May 24, 1990, a letter from someone identifying himself as "The Lord's Avenger," claiming credit for the bombing, was mailed to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
The letter
briefly cast suspicion on Staley as the author due to the notoriety of the Planned Parenthood incident. It was soon determined that the letter was a hoax from Bari's assailant designed to cast suspicion on Staley, capitalizing on the notoriety of the Planned Parenthood incident. Staley was cleared as a suspect in the bombing.

Personal life

Staley married his wife Nona and they have two children. He also has a daughter - Shannon Staley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staley, Bill 1946 births Living people American football defensive ends American Football League players Cincinnati Bengals players Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Utah State Aggies football players

College career

Professional career

Life after Football

Personal life

See also

References