Hugh Lamont Douglas (born August 23, 1971) 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 ...

defensive end in the National Football League and former football analyst for the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...

television network. His playing career included stints with the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles (twice), and the Jacksonville Jaguars. In his first season in 1995, Douglas was named Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. He is affectionately known as “Turbo Bird.”

Early life

Douglas was born in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Ohio, United States. Located midway between Columbus and Cleveland via Interstate 71, it is part of Northeast Ohio region in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau. The city ...

and attended

Mansfield Senior High School Mansfield Senior High School is located in Mansfield, Ohio, United States. The school serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Mansfield City School District. The school enrolls 1,389 students as of the 2006–2007 academic year. Their nickname is ...

College career

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...

Wilberforce, Ohio Wilberforce is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,271 at the 2010 census, up from 1,579 at the 2000 census. History After Wilberforce College was established in 1856, the community was ...

, Douglas majored in elementary education and was a two-time NAIA Division I All-American, made 42 sacks in 32 games in a three-year career, turned in 13 multiple-sack games, and helped lead his team to an NAIA national championship as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

. As a senior, Douglas was named Defensive Player of the Year by The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. He is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

NFL career

Douglas was a first-round draft choice of the Jets in the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 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 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount T ...

and was traded to the Eagles prior to the 1998 season for draft picks in the second and fifth round. The Jets would then send the second round pick to the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

for three further picks, in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th round. Those picks would become

Dorian Boose Dorian Alexander Boose (January 29, 1974 – November 22, 2016) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League for the New York Jets and the Washington Redskins. He played college football at Washington State University a ...

, Kevin Williams and Eric Bateman. The second Philadelphia pick would be used on Casey Dailey. None of the four would leave any sort of lasting mark in the NFL. Douglas spent the 2003 campaign with the Jaguars before re-signing with Philadelphia in 2004. Douglas is ranked fourth behind

Reggie White Reginald Howard White (December 19, 1961 – December 26, 2004) was an American professional football player who played defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played college football for ...

(124),

Trent Cole Trent James Cole Jr. (born October 5, 1982) is a retired American football defensive end and outside linebacker. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles as well his final two with ...

(85.5), and

Clyde Simmons Clyde Simmons Jr. (born August 4, 1964) is a former American football defensive end and current college defensive line coach. Playing career College Simmons played college football at Western Carolina University helping lead the Catamounts to th ...

(76.5), on the Eagles' all-time sack list with 54.5 during his six seasons. Douglas was cut by the Eagles prior to the 2005 season, but was hired into the

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...

position of "Good-Will Ambassador" shortly after. On November 5, 2005, Douglas was reportedly involved in an altercation with former Eagles teammate Terrell Owens, who was in the midst of a very public war of words with the team. Owens was suspended by the team and was later deactivated when he refused to fully apologize for the altercation, as well as for derogatory remarks made about Eagles' quarterback

Donovan McNabb Donovan Jamal McNabb (born November 25, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before his NFL career, he played football and ...

Broadcasting career

Douglas was employed for a while as an on-air reporter with

WTXF-TV WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...

in Philadelphia and as a regular personality on Philadelphia’s sports radio station 610 WIP. In January 2011, Douglas was made co-host of a Six Nations Championship rugby show on

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...

after a successful guest appearance. In his taped segments, Douglas took a stab at the sport, interviewed zookeepers and took an Irish stepdancing lesson. On August 1, 2011

announced that Douglas will join the network as an NFL studio analyst. He will provide analysis across a myriad of studio programs such as ''SportsCenter'', ''NFL Live'', ESPN2’s '' First Take'' and ESPNEWS. In September 2012, he joined

Jalen Rose Jalen Anthony Rose (born January 30, 1973) is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' " Fab Five" (along with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy ...

as a full-time analyst on ESPN2's ''

Numbers Never Lie ''His & Hers'' was a sports discussion show hosted by Michael Smith and Jemele Hill who have each appeared on Highly Questionable as a co host but not together; it was televised by ESPN2 as part of its weekday lineup of studio programs. Original ...

'' - and was reportedly fired on August 13, 2013, after calling colleague Michael Smith an " Uncle Tom ". Douglas currently works for 92.9 The Game sports talk radio station in Atlanta, GA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Hugh 1971 births Living people American radio personalities Sportspeople from Mansfield, Ohio American football defensive ends Central State Marauders football players New York Jets players Philadelphia Eagles players Jacksonville Jaguars players National Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners