Robert Dean Clatterbuck (July 3, 1932 – November 7, 2004) was a

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) and

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL)

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 ...

. He played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Amateur career

Clatterbuck attended San Angelo High School. He went on to play for the local San Angelo College. In 1950, his one year there, Clatterbuck led the Rams to a conference championship and a victory in the Oleander Bowl. Afterwards, 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 ...

for

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

for 3 years. He held most of the passing records when he left. He was a member of the school's first bowl appearance, winning the

1952 Salad Bowl The 1952 Salad Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Houston Cougars and the Dayton Flyers. Background The Cougars finished 4th in the Missouri Valley Conference in their first season and earned a trip to their first bowl ...

. While at Houston, Clatterbuck also played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, and participated in the

1953 College World Series The 1953 College World Series was the seventh NCAA-sanctioned baseball tournament that determined a national champion. The tournament was held as the conclusion of the 1953 NCAA baseball season and was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omah ...

for the Cougars. In 2014, he was posthumously inducted into his high school athletic hall of fame.

Professional career

After college, Clatterbuck was drafted into the

NFL 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 major ...

by the New York Giants. He beat out two All-Americans for the job to back up All-Pro quarterback

Charlie Conerly Charles Albert Conerly Jr. (September 19, 1921 – February 13, 1996) was an American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1948 through 1961. Conerly was inducted into the College Football Hall ...

. He rarely saw playing time, starting just 2 games in 4 seasons with the team. He was a member of the 1956 championship team. In 1960, Clatterbuck joined the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

, playing for the

Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

in their inaugural season. He started two games in relief of starter

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bu ...

. Clatterbuck wore

contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

es while he played. During a game early in his career, the backup was required to enter game, where he realized he had forgotten his contacts and played out the half "throwing blind".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clatterbuck, Bobby 1932 births 2004 deaths American football quarterbacks Angelo State Rams football players Houston Cougars baseball players Houston Cougars football players Los Angeles Chargers players New York Giants players Players of American football from Missouri Sportspeople from Columbia, Missouri