John Gregory Huarte (born April 6, 1944) 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 wi ...
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 ...
. He played
college football at the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
for the
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team and won the 1964
Heisman Trophy. He then played professionally with a number of teams in the
American Football League (AFL), 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), and in the
World Football League (WFL) between 1965 and 1975. Huarte was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Early years and college career
Huarte was born and raised in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
; his father Joseph was a former
minor league baseball player of
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
descent.
The family ran an orange and avocado ranch and he graduated from
Mater Dei High School in
Santa Ana in 1961.
[
Huarte played college football for the ]Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...
. During his sophomore and junior seasons, he averaged only a few minutes per game due to injuries and the Irish went 5–5 and 2–7, respectively. As a senior in 1964 under new Irish head coach Ara Parseghian
Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for br ...
however, he became the starting quarterback as the Irish won all but one game during the 1964 season, in which he was selected as an All-American and won the Heisman Trophy. By the end of the season, Huarte threw for 2,062 yards with only 205 passes, an average of over ten yards per pass attempt, many to receiver Jack Snow.
Huarte was a member of the College All-Star team in the annual pre-season game against the defending NFL champions at Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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's Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
. The 1965 game was in early August against the Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
and Huarte was named the game's most valuable player.
Professional career
Huarte was drafted in 1965 by both pro football leagues: he was the twelfth overall selection of the AFL draft
The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL).
History
W ...
and the 76th pick of the NFL draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
. He signed with the AFL's New York Jets over the NFL Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
, but was beaten out for the starting position by fellow-rookie
A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year).
In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...
Joe Namath, the first pick of the AFL draft.[ who had finished eleventh in the Heisman voting as a senior at ]Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
. The AFL Jets thus signed both the Heisman Trophy winner and the Alabama star away from the NFL. Huarte was third on the depth chart behind co-starters Namath and Mike Taliaferro
Myron Eugene Taliaferro (pronounced "tollifur", born July 26, 1941) is a former collegiate and professional American football quarterback. He is best known for leading third-ranked Illinois to a 1964 Rose Bowl victory over Washington by the sc ...
and was on the taxi squad
In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...
. Following the 1965 season, Huarte was traded to the Boston Patriots for Jim Colclough and the draft rights to Wichita State
Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...
linebacker/center Jim Waskiewicz.
Subsequently, Huarte did see action as a back-up quarterback for several other professional teams from 1966 to 1972. Out of the NFL in 1973, he played his final two seasons of professional football as the starting quarterback of the Memphis Southmen
The Memphis Southmen, also known as the Memphis Grizzlies, were an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. They played in the World Football League (WFL), which operated in 1974 and 1975. They played their home games at Liberty Bowl M ...
of the World Football League, which folded before the completion of the 1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
season.
After football
Huarte is the founder and CEO of Arizona TIle .re
Our History
. Arizona Tile. Arizona Tile has become one of the leading tile and slab distributors in the U.S. Accessed July 24, 2011. In 2005, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Huarte is married to Eileen Devine from Woodside, LI; they have 5 children and 14 grandchildren.
In 1977 he started a tile/granite store in San Diego. It has now grown to 30 locations, with over 1000 employees throughout the United States. It is still family owned and operated by John and Eileen Huarte.
See also
* List of American Football League players
The following is a list of men who played for the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969).
Players
A
B
C
D
Elbert Dubenion
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
Z
Notes
Player notes
1,398 ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huarte, John
1944 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American Football League players
American football quarterbacks
American people of Basque descent
Boston Patriots players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Chicago Bears players
Heisman Trophy winners
Kansas City Chiefs players
Memphis Southmen players
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
Philadelphia Eagles players
Players of American football from Anaheim, California
Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California