James Garth Jax (born September 16, 1963) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

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 ...

, who played for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals. He played

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 ...

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

Early years

Jax has two brothers and two sisters; Clayton Jax, the oldest, Brady Jax, Hilary, and Bronwyn. Jax grew up in Houston where he attended Strake Jesuit College Preparatory and helped his team win the 4-A state title in three of his four years. He received All-state honors at

as a senior. He accepted a football scholarship from

. He became a starter at

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the last game of his freshman year against

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. Unfortunately his career would be plagued with injuries. He was limited to a part-time role as a sophomore because of an illness. As a junior, he made 13 tackles during a 38-26 loss against the University of South Carolina, before suffering serious kidney and spleen injuries, to the extent that some doctors doubted if he could play football again. He missed the last 3 games of the season. In his final college year, he made a team-high 13 tackles in the season opener against

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. Despite a broken right thumb and a bruised left shoulder, as a starter he led the team with 6 quarterback sacks and ranked fifth with 63 tackles.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Jax was selected in the eleventh round of the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

by the

. Although he was released on September first, he was re-signed one week later after

Mike Renfro Michael Ray Renfro (born June 19, 1955) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas Christian University. Early years Renfro a ...

was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. He emerged as one of the

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 ...

leaders. In

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, a broken hand limited him to 3 games before being placed on the

. The next year, he led the team in

tackles with 24.

Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals

After spending three seasons with the Cowboys, he signed with the Phoenix Cardinals as a Plan B free agent in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. The next year, he became a starter at

inside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

after the team switched to a 3-4 defense and finished with career-highs in tackles (70), sacks (3) and interceptions (2). On November 22,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, he was placed on the

, ending the year with 52 tackles. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, besides playing defense and

, he was also used as blocking back on short-yardage situations. Jax may be best known amongst Cardinals fans for tackling a drunk fan who ran onto the field at

Sun Devil Stadium Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, he started four games and registered 48 tackles. He was waived on August 25,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Personal life

After his retirement from football, he served as the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

coordinator of

NFL 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 major ...

programs and community outreach for three years. He left the Cardinals organization to help start the Sunrise Bank. In 2000, he was named football coach at Valley Lutheran High School. He also was the vice president of public relations at Cayenne Entertainment. His stepfather Phil Abraira, at one time had the

records for average yards per punt return in a season (20.1) and longest punt return (92 yards). His son, Griffin, was a standout pitcher at the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

and was drafted in the 3rd round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be d ...

by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jax, Garth 1963 births Living people Players of American football from Houston Strake Jesuit College Preparatory alumni American football linebackers Florida State Seminoles football players Dallas Cowboys players Phoenix Cardinals players Arizona Cardinals players