Daniel Padgett Sandifer (March 1, 1927 – August 15, 1987), was an American football

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 ...

who played with six National Football League teams from

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

. Because of World War II, he was one of the few

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 ...

players to play in two

College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the C ...

s. He currently holds the Washington Redskins team record for most interceptions in a season (13) set in his rookie year, 1948. This record has been surpassed only once in NFL history by Dick “Night Train” Lane with 14 INTs in 1952 playing for the Los Angeles Rams. Dan also had interceptions in six consecutive games during his rookie year, 1948.

Career

Sandifer was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the

1948 NFL Draft The 1948 National Football League Draft was held on December 19, 1947, at the Fort Pitt Hotel in Pittsburgh. This was the second year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery, with the previous year's winner Chicago Bea ...

out of

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

, and that same season he led the NFL with a then record 13 interceptions.

Dick "Night Train" Lane Richard Lane (April 16, 1928 – January 29, 2002), commonly known as Dick "Night Train" Lane, was an American professional football player who was a cornerback for 14 years in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Los Angeles R ...

's 14 interceptions in a season is the only time Sandifer's record was surpassed in NFL history. Sandifer's 13 interceptions remains the All-Time single season interception record for the Washington Redskins. He also is included in a group of NFL players who hold the record for most interceptions in a game, intercepting four passes against the Boston Yanks on Halloween 1948, returning two of them for touchdowns, a record that has never been broken. Sandifer also spent time on the offense during his career. He had 74 career carries for 247 yards and one touchdown, with his first two seasons with the Redskins and his 1951 season with the Eagles being where he had most of his use. He also had 30 receptions for 510 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also returned 72 punts for 767 yards (with a 10.7 yards per return). He finished in the top 10 of punt returns in the league three times, finishing 3rd in 1948 (20), 6th in 1949 (18), and 9th in 1950 (15). He also had 63 kickoffs for 1,367 yards (with a 21.7 yards per return) and one touchdown. He was first in kick return yards and kick returns in 1948 along with 1st in kick returns in 1949 and 2nd in kickoff returns. He also finished in the top 5 of all-purpose yards, finishing 3rd in 1948 with 1,340 and 4th the next year with 1,161. He had 23 career interceptions, with 13 being in his rookie season.

After football

Sandifer was an architect and a ranked amateur tennis player after his NFL days. He was one of the architects of the Louisiana State University Student Union Building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He died of heart disease on August 15, 1987.

External links

* 1927 births 1987 deaths American football defensive backs Green Bay Packers players LSU Tigers football players Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana Philadelphia Eagles players Washington Redskins players C. E. Byrd High School alumni San Francisco 49ers players {{defensiveback-1920s-stub