Nick Papac (May 18, 1935 – April 18, 2009) 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 ...

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 one season in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

. 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 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

Early life and high school

Papac was born in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

and grew up in

Sanger, California Sanger is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 26,617 at the 2020 census, up from 24,270 at the 2010 census and 18,731 at the 2000 census. Sanger is located east-southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 371 f ...

and attended

Sanger Union High School Sanger Union High School is the four-year public high school serving Sanger, California and the rural surrounding community (defined as Sanger and the communities of Centerville, Fairmont, and Tivy Valley. The official address of the current camp ...

. He was the Apaches' starting quarterback ahead of future Raiders teammate

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

College career

Papac began his collegiate career at California. He played two seasons, mostly on the junior varsity team, with the Golden Bears before joining the Army after his sophomore year. He was stationed at Fort Carson and quarterbacked the base's football team for two years. After being discharged from the Army, Papac enrolled at

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

and played two seasons for the Bulldogs and was the team's starting quarterback.

Professional career

After going undrafted after the end of his collegiate career Papac was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. As a rookie he primarily served as Tom Flores's backup. He finished the season with 13 of 44 pass attempts completed for 173 yards with two touchdowns and seven interceptions and also rushed for 28 yards and one touchdown. Papac was released by the Raiders during the following offseason. He was signed by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

but was cut during training camp.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papac, Nick 1935 births 2009 deaths Players of American football from Fresno County, California American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football players Fresno State Bulldogs football players Oakland Raiders players People from Sanger, California