Jeffrey Charles Rohrer (born December 25, 1958) 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 ...

(NFL) 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 ...

. 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 ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and was drafted in the second round of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 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 27–28, 1982, at the New York She ...

Early life and collegiate career

Rohrer attended

Mira Costa High School Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic t ...

, where he played football. He was a National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete. In 2014 Rohrer was inducted into Mira Costa's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, in the same group of inductees as musician Jim Lindberg and scientist

Lance J. Dixon Lance Jenkins Dixon (born 22 June 1961, in Pasadena, California) is an American theoretical particle physicist. He is a professor in the SLAC Theory Group at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) at Stanford University. Dixon received in ...

. He attended

. In 1978, he was a backup

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. He did not attend school in 1979. In 1980, he was moved to

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 ...

and helped his team win the Ivy League championship. He registered 110 tackles (second on the team), 54 solo tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. He suffered a fractured ankle and missed the last 3 games of the season. In 1981 as a senior, he posted 136 tackles (school record), 71 solo tackles, 4 tackles for loss, one sack and one interception, while receiving All-Ivy League and All-New England honors. The team shared the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

championship, tying

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

with a 9-1 overall record, and was briefly ranked in the nation’s top 20, with three of its players selected in the

Professional career

Rohrer was selected by the

in the second round (53rd overall) of the

, which at the time was considered a reach by the media. As a rookie, he played in 8 games on 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 ...

units. The next year in addition to

, he played on the short-yardage and goal line defenses. In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, he was the backup at

middle 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, ...

, until being moved to

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, ...

when Billy Cannon Jr. suffered a neck injury. The next year, he replaced Anthony Dickerson as the starting right outside linebacker, posting 54 tackles and 1.5 sacks. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, he registered 111 tackles (second on the team), 2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles (led the team) and one fumble recovery. 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 ...

, he was replaced on passing downs, but still managed 74 tackles (third on the team), 4 sacks (led the

s) and 2 fumble recoveries. During training camp in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, he was hospitalized with a bulging disc in his lower back, which required season ending surgery. 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 ...

, with the arrival of head coach Jimmy Johnson, he was released before the season started, as part of a youth movement. During his time with the Cowboys, he was considered a tough and outspoken player.

Personal life

On November 18, 2018, Rohrer and Joshua Ross were married. His marriage made him the first NFL player, former or current, to enter into a same-sex marriage. Rohrer was formerly married to Heather Rohrer, with whom he had two children.

References

External links

'Old' Jeff Rohrer Hopes to Impress the New CowboysMrs. Bond website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohrer, Jeff 1958 births Living people Sportspeople from Manhattan Beach, California Players of American football from California American football outside linebackers Yale Bulldogs football players Dallas Cowboys players Gay sportsmen American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from California LGBT players of American football Mira Costa High School alumni

Early life and collegiate career

Professional career

Personal life

See also

References

External links