Walter Jackson Burkett (December 16, 1936 – September 1, 2017) was an

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

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

, and

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 ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

Early years

Burkett began playing sports at Andalusia High School, where he was a three-sport athlete (football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

). After his sophomore season he transferred to

Choctawhatchee High School Choctawhatchee High School is a high school in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It is the only school in Okaloosa County to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. It also offers the Advanced Placement Program and honors classes, AFJR ...

and became a two-year starter in football. As a junior, he played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on offense and

on defense. In his last year he was moved to

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 ...

and received All-conference honors. He was also captain of the

team.

College career

Burkett accepted a scholarship from

, where he was a two-way player, playing

and

, while also calling the defensive signals. He was named a starter as a sophomore and was a part of a team that won the SEC and the National championship. That squad was led by its defense, which registered 6 shutouts in 10 games and allowed 28 total points in the season (no more than 7 points in any game). In his last year he was limited with a chronic shoulder injury, that caused it to be discolcated several times. During his college career, his teams had a 26–3–1 record and were a part of two undefeated seasons. He also practiced

and

(only as a freshman). In 1988, he was inducted into the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

. He also was named to the Auburn All-Century football team and Walk of Fame.

Professional career

Baltimore Colts

Burkett was selected by the

in the first round (12th overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft with a future draft pick, which allowed the team to draft him before his college eligibility was over. He was also selected by the New York Titans in the

1960 AFL draft The 1960 American Football League draft was held on November 23–24, 1959, in Minneapolis, shortly after the organization of the league, and lasted 33 rounds. An additional draft of 20 rounds was held by the AFL on December 2. Teams were requ ...

. As a rookie, he suffered from shoulder problems in preseason, so he was operated on and 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 ...

. In 1962, he was named a starter in a linebacker corps that included

Bill Pellington William Pellington (September 25, 1927 – April 26, 1994) was an American gridiron football linebacker who played 12 seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts. Known for his aggressive style and so-called neck-tie tackles, Pellington was ...

and

Don Shinnick Donald Dee Shinnick (May 15, 1935 – January 20, 2004) was an American football linebacker who played as a collegian for UCLA and then thirteen seasons in the National Football League for the Baltimore Colts. He had 37 career interceptions with t ...

. He was mostly a backup during his time with the Colts.

New Orleans Saints (first stint)

Burkett became one of the original members of the

, after being selected in the 1967 NFL Expansion Draft and playing in 14 regular season games as a backup

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, ...

. On August 28, 1968, he was traded to the

in exchange for

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

Jim Boeke James Frederick Boeke (September 11, 1938 – September 26, 2014) was an American football offensive tackle in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. He played college football at Heidelbe ...

Dallas Cowboys

In 1968, after trading top linebacker backup

Harold Hays Leo Harold Hays (born September 24, 1939) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at University of Southern Mississippi. Early yea ...

, the

acquired Burkett and Dave Simmons for depth purposes. He played in only three games, after suffering a broken left fibula against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

on October 28. The next season, he appeared in 11 games as a backup. On June 23,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, he was traded to the

in exchange for

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

Dave Whitsell David A. Whitsell (June 14, 1936 – October 7, 1999) was an American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, and the New Orleans Saints. He was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 196 ...

and rookie

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 ...

Tom Broadhead.

New Orleans Saints (second stint)

, he started 10 games at

and was also the team´s

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point attempt ...

. On November 8 against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, he became a part of league history, when he snapped the ball that

Tom Dempsey Thomas John Dempsey (January 12, 1947April 4, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and ...

kicked on the final play of a 19–17 win, for a then NFL record 63-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

. He retired after the season.

Personal life

He co-owned a restaurant in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

for five years (1968–73). He also worked as a sales manager for a pipe business and as the marketing vice president with the engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan, that designed bridges and roads. He was the county commissioner in

Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,922, up from 19,507 in 2010. It is the principal city of the Fort Walton Beach− Crestview− Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

from 2000 to 2008. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on September 1, 2017, aged 80.

References

External links

Catching Up with former Colts linebacker Jackie BurkettHall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkett, Jackie 1936 births 2017 deaths People from Chilton County, Alabama People from Fort Walton Beach, Florida Sportspeople from Okaloosa County, Florida Players of American football from Alabama Players of American football from Florida American football centers American football linebackers Choctawhatchee High School alumni Auburn Tigers football players Baltimore Colts players New Orleans Saints players Dallas Cowboys players