Derrick Jensen (April 27, 1956 – April 7, 2017) was a professional

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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

in 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 ...

. He played eight seasons for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He scored a touchdown after blocking a punt in

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

. Following his playing career, he worked as a scout for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

beginning in 1991. Jensen retired after being diagnosed with ALS in 2012.

High school and college career

Jensen grew up in

Osawatomie, Kansas Osawatomie is a city in Miami County, Kansas, United States, southwest of Kansas City. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,255. It derives its name as a portmanteau of two nearby streams, the Marais des Cygnes River (form ...

. While in high school, Jensen led the Osawatomie Trojans to their second state championship in 1973. OHS won its first state football championship in 1966 led by future Green Bay Packers QB Lynn Dickey. After graduating from Osawatomie High School, Jensen attended

Texas-Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of T ...

. Jensen was a two-time

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

MVP while at

. He finished his career with 3,346 rushing yards, the first player in conference history to top 3,000 yards.

Professional career

Jensen was a third-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders in 1978 and played in 106 games, starting 21, in his career, including a streak of 105 straight. He served as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Raiders’

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for five seasons and contributed a blocked punt, which he recovered for the first

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

, in the Raiders’ 38-9 win over 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 ...

. He was also part of the Raiders’ Super Bowl XV championship team. He finished his Raiders career with 780 yards on 224 carries, with five touchdowns. He added 44 receptions and three scores and returned an

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the ...

33 yards for a touchdown against 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. ...

in 1980.

Personal

Jensen's wife, Erica, died as a result of a hit-and-run automobile accident on December 31, 2009. They had one son, Davis, who was 12 years old at the time of his mother's passing.

Death

Jensen was diagnosed with ALS in 2012. He died of complications from the disease on April 7, 2017 at his home in

Panama City Beach, Florida Panama City Beach is a resort town in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 12,018. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City". Panama City Bea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Derrick 1956 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Waukegan, Illinois American football tight ends American football running backs Texas–Arlington Mavericks football players Oakland Raiders players Los Angeles Raiders players Neurological disease deaths in Florida Deaths from motor neuron disease People from Osawatomie, Kansas People from Bay County, Florida Players of American football from Illinois