Brian Dale Baschnagel (born January 8, 1954 in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...

) 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 wide receiver for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Early life

Brian Baschnagel's family relocated often due to his father's professional responsibilities and moved to the northern suburbs of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

when he was in his early teens. Baschnagel attended North Allegheny High School (Pittsburgh PA) and was a running back on the North Allegheny football team. Baschnagel was the first running back in

WPIAL The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) is an interscholastic athletic association in Western Pennsylvania. It is District 7 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. History The Western Pennsylvania Inte ...

history to rush for over 400 yards in a single game. According to an article in the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'', Baschnagel rushed for 409 yards in a 1971 game against Sto Rox. According to an article in the ''

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Although it transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, it rem ...

'', Baschnagel then set a WPIAL rushing record that would stand for 17 years when he ran for 432 yards in a 1972 game.

College

Baschnagel attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

after graduating from North Allegheny High School. Initially, Baschnagel was a running back but then was converted to a receiver (wing back). In addition to his position as a starting player on the Ohio State football team, Baschnagel was a two-time Academic All-American (1974, 1975) and a recipient of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame scholarship award (1975).

NFL

Baschnagel was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the

1976 NFL Draft The 1976 National Football League draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks m ...

. He wore jersey #47 in his rookie year, which he began as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, and #84 the remainder of his career with the Bears after moving back to receiver. Contrary to popular belief, Baschnagel was not on the active roster in 1985 when the Bears went 18–1 en route to a Super Bowl victory. He injured his knee in training camp and spent the entire 1985 season on IR. However, he did travel with the team that year, assisted the coaches from the coaching booth, and helped in practice after he recovered from his injury. He received a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

after the Bears' dominant

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

win.

Personal life

Baschnagel is married, the father of three children, and currently works for North American Corp. in Glenview IL. In 2013, it was announced that Baschnagel would be inducted into the West Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

References

1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Kingston, New York American football wide receivers Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ohio State University alumni Chicago Bears players Players of American football from Pittsburgh Brian Piccolo Award winners {{widereceiver-1950s-stub