Billy Guy Anderson (February 17, 1941 – April 11, 1996) 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 wi ...
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
who played professionally in the
American Football League.
College career
Anderson played
college football at the
University of Tulsa. He established school and
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
records as the
starting quarterback in 1965. He led the nation in passing and
total offense
Total offense (or total offence) is a gridiron football statistic representing the total number of yards rushing and yards passing by a team or player. Total offense differs from yards from scrimmage, which gives credit for passing yardage to the ...
while setting school records for most passing yards in one game (502), most passing yards in a season (3,464), most completions for a game (42) and most passing attempts in one game (65). Completing 58 percent of his passes, he had 30
touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
passes in 1965. He was an All-
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest.
History
The MVC was established ...
performer his senior season.
In the 1960s, Tulsa took the collegiate passing game to a level never seen before. The Hurricane averaged nearly 318 yards in 1964, and increased that average to 346 yards a year later. Anderson helped revolutionize the way college football was played.
Billy Anderson threw the first touchdown pass in Astrodome history - to Galena Park's Howard Twilley - when Tulsa defeated University of Houston 14-0 in 1965, the first football game ever played in the Dome. Anderson led the nation in passing that year.
In 1986, Anderson was inducted into the Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame. His jersey, #14, was retired September 25, 1995.
Professional career
Anderson played professionally in the
American Football League for the
Houston Oilers
The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...
in
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
and was drafted by the
Los Angeles Rams in
1965.
Death
He died on April 11, 1996 of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (known popularly as Lou Gehrig's disease).
See also
*
List of American Football League players
The following is a list of men who played for the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969).
Players
A
B
C
D
Elbert Dubenion
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
Notes
Player notes
1,398 ...
*
List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
The list of college football yearly passing and total offense leaders identifies the major college passing leaders for each season from 1937 to the present. It includes yearly leaders in three statistical categories: (1) passing yardage; (2) pass ...
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Billy
1941 births
1996 deaths
Deaths from motor neuron disease
Neurological disease deaths in Texas
People from Ellis County, Texas
American football quarterbacks
Players of American football from Texas
Navarro Bulldogs football players
Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players
Houston Oilers players
American Football League players