Joseph Daniel Talbott (November 1, 1944 – January 19, 2020) was an American professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
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 ...
player. At the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, he was a
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 ...
for two seasons with the
North Carolina Tar Heels football
The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football or Gridiron Football. The Tar Heels play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...
team and was named the
ACC Player of the Year in 1966.
Talbott also led the
Tar Heels baseball team to the
College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
in 1966. He also played
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
for North Carolina on their freshmen team, but gave up the sport to concentrate on football and baseball.
[ He was drafted in the 17th round of the ]1967 NFL Draft
The 1967 National Football League draft was conducted March 14–15, 1967, at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. It was the first common draft with the AFL, part of the AFL–NFL merger agreement of June 1966.
This draft was delayed as new gui ...
by the San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
, but did not sign a contract with the team and played baseball professionally in the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
's minor league system instead. His NFL draft rights were traded to the Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
for a 10th round draft pick on March 5, 1968, but during training camp he was called into active service duty for the United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...
and missed the entire season. He spent the 1969 season on the Redskins' taxi squad
In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...
, and was released during final roster cuts before the start of the 1970 season on August 10, 1970.
Talbott was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame
The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...
in 2003. His No. 10 football jersey hangs in Kenan Stadium
Kenan Memorial Stadium is a stadium located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is the home field of the North Carolina Tar Heels. It is primarily used for football. The stadium opened in 1927 and holds 50,500 people. It is located near the center ...
along with other honored jerseys.
Talbott led the Rocky Mount Senior High School Blackbirds to winning 4A state championships in baseball, basketball, and football in his senior year in 1963. In 2018, the Danny Talbott Cancer Center at Nash UNC Health Care in Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe and Nash County, North Carolina, Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it ...
was named after him.
Talbott died at the age of 75 on January 19, 2020, of complications from cancer.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbott, Danny
1944 births
2020 deaths
Sportspeople from Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Players of American football from North Carolina
American football quarterbacks
North Carolina Tar Heels football players
North Carolina Tar Heels baseball players
United States Army reservists
Washington Redskins players