Terrance Patrick Joyce (July 18, 1954 – June 17, 2011) 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 ...

player. A punter, he played two seasons professionally with the

NFL 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 major ...

St. Louis Cardinals in the 1970s. Terry Joyce was the father of

Brandon Joyce Brandon Joyce (September 5, 1984 – December 28, 2010) was a gridiron football offensive tackle. He was the son of former NFL punter Terry Joyce. Joyce was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played colle ...

, an offensive tackle for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Early life and education

Terry Joyce was born in

Kirksville, Missouri Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University. ...

and grew up in

Edina, Missouri Edina is a city in Knox County, Missouri, United States, between the North and South Forks of the South Fabius River. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,012. It is the county seat of Knox County. Geography Edina is located in central ...

with his parents Pete and Eileen Joyce. Following graduation from Knox County high school in 1972 Joyce attended

Highland Community College (Kansas) Highland Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Highland, Kansas. History The college considers Highland University the precursor to Highland Community College, making it the first college in Kansas. Founding In November 18 ...

, Missouri Southern State and Wichita State University. He was a three-sport athlete at Highland, playing

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 ...

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 punter during football season. Additionally, he was a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and center on the basketball team and was

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

on the "Scotties" baseball team. Terry Joyce would finish his college education at Wichita State University and

Missouri Southern State College Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

. While at Missouri Southern he was voted a football All-American at tight end and punter, leading the nation in punting average. His football jersey number was retired posthumously at Knox County High School, and it remains Knox County High School's only retired number.

Professional career

Terry Joyce was an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

when signed by the Cardinals in 1976. He played in eighteen games over two seasons for St. Louis before being released. Over the next few years Joyce attended training camps with 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 ...

, L.A. Rams and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, but never made the final team rosters. Terry Joyce finished with a career average of 37 yards per punt, with his longest being 58 yards. He had three blocked punts on 86 attempts. In a 2008 interview with the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' Joyce said the biggest thrill of his playing days was being a teammate of three NFL Hall of Famers Dan Dierdorf,

Roger Wehrli Roger Russell Wehrli (born November 26, 1947) is an American former football player who was a cornerback for his entire 14-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 until 1982. He was a seven-time ...

, and

Jackie Smith Jackie Larue Smith (born February 23, 1940) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the St. Louis Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Northwestern Louisiana State College (Northwestern ...

. ''Not too many guys can say that in a short career'' said Joyce.

Death

Terry Joyce died of brain cancer on June 17, 2011. He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head. His death came less than a year after the murder of son Brandon Joyce, who was shot during a robbery on Christmas Eve, 2010 and died four days later. Terry Joyce is survived by wife Linda and daughter, Doctor Lindsay Joyce, MD.

Honors

* College football All-American *Member, Highland Community College Hall of Fame. Inducted August 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Terry 1954 births 2011 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in the United States People from Kirksville, Missouri American football tight ends American football punters Wichita State Shockers football players Missouri Southern Lions football players St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Players of American football from Missouri People from Edina, Missouri