James Christopher Jensen (born November 14, 1958) is a former 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 ...

wide receiver,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

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 ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who played for the

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

from 1981 to 1992 of 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 ...

and for the

Miami Hooters Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. He played

for the

Boston University Terriers The Boston University Terriers are the ten men's and fourteen women's varsity athletic teams representing Boston University in NCAA Division I competition. Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is Rhett the ...

where he compiled a 17-3-1 record as a starter and was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the

Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is essentially the an ...

as well as All-Conference. He attended

Central Bucks High School West Central Bucks High School - West, often shortened to CB West, is a public high school housing students in grades ten through twelve. It is located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and is part of the Central Bucks School District. During the 2020-20 ...

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...

. Nicknamed "Crash", he played 14 seasons in Miami, 2 for the Arena Football Hooters and 12 for the NFL Dolphins, where his best years came while teamed with quarterback

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and be ...

and head coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

. Jensen wore jersey # 11 because he entered the league as a

. After Marino was selected in the

1983 NFL Draft The 1983 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 26–27, 1983, at the New York She ...

, it became evident that Jensen would need to find another way to survive on the Dolphins roster. He became a human Swiss army knife, with a knack for making tackles on punt and kickoff coverages and converting third down opportunities as a running back or wide receiver in the offensive set with Marino. On Mexican TV he was known as ''The Thousand Uses'' or ''El mil usos'' in Spanish, due to his versatility. His best season statistically was in 1989 with 61 receptions for 557 yards and 6 touchdowns receiving, with 8 rushing attempts for 50 yards, and 1 passing attempt and completion for a 19-yard touchdown. He was named the Dolphins special teams MVP in 1988. Jensen finished his 12 NFL seasons with 229 receptions for 2,171 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also passed for two touchdowns. In 1989, he caught Dan Marino's 200th career touchdown pass. Jim was also the 1988 NFL Special teams player of the year. In 2000, he served as the head coach for the

Miami Tropics Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

of the

Spring Football League The Spring Football League (SFL) was a short lived professional american football minor league that existed for only one season in 2000. Spring football Founded by several ex-NFL players such as Eric Dickerson, Drew Pearson, Bo Jackson, an ...

. He was selected the 2006 Miami Dolphins "Unsung Hero".

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Jim 1958 births Living people American football wide receivers American football quarterbacks Boston University Terriers football players Boston University alumni Miami Dolphins players Miami Hooters players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Florida Firecats coaches Florida Bobcats coaches Orlando Predators coaches