Jeffry Allen Nixon (born October 13, 1956) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

college and 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 ...

player who was a

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 ...

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 ...

(NFL) for six seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. 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 ...

at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

, and was recognized as an All-American. He played professionally for the NFL's

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

Early years

Nixon was born in

Fürstenfeldbruck Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, located 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it has a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s, Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base. Th ...

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. He attended

Gar-Field Senior High School Gar-Field Senior High School is a senior high school in Woodbridge in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, USA, with students in grades 9 through 12. Established in 1953, it was originally located at 15941 Cardinal Drive until the ...

Prince William County, Virginia Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas ...

College career

Nixon attended the University of Richmond in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, where he played for the

Richmond Spiders football Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

team from 1975 to 1978. As a senior in 1978, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. Nixon recorded twenty-three interceptions and remains seventh in career interceptions in NCAA Division I-A history.

Professional career

The Buffalo Bills chose Nixon in the fourth round (eighty-seventh pick overall) of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 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 May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

, and he played for the Bills from to . He led the team with six interceptions in his rookie year. In 1980, he was the ''Sports Illustrated'' Defensive Player of the Month for September. He set a club record with four takeaways in one game (three interceptions, one fumble recovery) versus the Miami Dolphins in 1980 to help the Bills snap a 20-game losing streak against Miami. Nixon suffered a career-ending knee injury in 1984.

TV Appearances

Nixon appeared on the

1978 College Football All-America Team The 1978 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1978. The National Collegiate Athletic Asso ...

with

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Life after football

During the Buffalo Bills football season, Nixon worked as a sports analyst on

WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and ...

AM Buffalo WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...

from 2002 to 2008. He also hosted an internet radio show "The Jeff Nixon Sports Report" that aired from 2008 to 2009 on VoiceAmerica. From 2009 to 2011 he wrote and published articles on the blog "Fourth and Goal Unites." Jeff was the official blogger for the NFL Alumni Association from 2011 to 2012. He has worked for the past 20 years (2000-2019) as the Youth Employment Director for the City of Buffalo. Jeff has been tireless in informing players of their rights with medical benefits, pension, and concussion issues on a blog called "NFL RETIRED PLAYERS UNITED". Jeff was voted the Buffalo Nightlife Magazine 2006, 2007 and 2008 R&B guitar player of the year. Jeff has two children from his first marriage, Jeff Nixon, Jr. and Jena. And is married to the singer Joyce Wilson Nixon.

References

External links

University of Richmond Athletic Hall of FameBuffalo Bills Alumni FeatureJeff Nixon
at Billszone.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Jeff 1956 births Living people All-American college football players American football defensive backs Buffalo Bills players Richmond Spiders football players Players of American football from Virginia