Cecil Turner (born April 2, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for six seasons for the Chicago Bears 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 went to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

after the 1970 season, when he tied a record (set in 1967 by Green Bay's Travis Williams) by returning four kickoffs for touchdowns, a record that still stands.

Early life

Turner graduated from Spingarn High School in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

College career

Turner started his college career as a

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

standout. Competing for Pratt College, he won the 1964

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

100-yard dash title, with a time of 9.5 seconds at the meet hosted in Big Spring, Texas. He continued to excel in track after transferring to

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

, bettering his time to 9.3 seconds and ultimately leading the Mustangs to the 1968 NCAA College Division outdoor track and field team national title. Midway through his senior football season for Cal Poly, Turner was hailed as "the fastest college football player in the nation," as he accumulated four touchdowns through the first four games of the year, but he missed most of the rest of the fall of 1967 due to injury. Turner, whose top college football season as a junior included 16 catches for 366 yards (a 22.9-yard average) and two touchdown receptions (plus an 87-yard kickoff return for a TD) in 1966, was later elected to the Cal Poly Hall of Fame in 1989.

Professional career

Turner was selected in the fifth round of the

1968 NFL/AFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

by the Chicago Bears. Larry Mayer ranked Turner as the seventh-greatest

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

in Bears history on the team's official website, noting his 32.7-yard average for the 1970 season. In 2010, Bleacher Report selected Turner as an honorable mention in the kickoff return position to their all-time Bears team, with the spot going to

Gale Sayers Gale Eugene Sayers (May 30, 1943September 23, 2020) was an American professional football player who was both a halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). In a relatively brief but highly productive NFL career, Sa ...

References

External links

Football Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Cecil 1944 births Living people American football return specialists American football wide receivers Cal Poly Mustangs football players Cal Poly Mustangs track and field Chicago Bears players Florida Blazers players National Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Washington, D.C.