Thomas Scott "Tim" Van Galder (May 26, 1944 – January 26, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a

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 ...

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) with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1967, 1971–1972) and the New York Jets (1973). He played college football 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 t ...

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

and the

New Mexico Military Institute New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports to the G ...

. While at Iowa State he earned all Big Eight Conference honors in both sports. He was later a sportscaster on St. Louis television. Van Galder was born in Racine, Wisconsin on May 26, 1944. Although drafted in 1966 by the Cardinals he spent most of his first 3 seasons on their

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, ...

, only being briefly activated but not playing in 1967. His first NFL action came on opening day of 1972 when he started at quarterback for the Cardinals and led them to a 10–3 victory over the Baltimore Colts. He started 4 more games for the Cardinals that season but the Cardinals did not win any of them; he missed several games with a concussion suffered in game 3, and he ended the season with a 34.5

quarterback rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

on 79 passes (with 7

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s). He was waived by the Cardinals and picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals before the 1973 season to replace the injured Virgil Carter as Ken Anderson's backup. The Bengals released him after an opening game loss in which Van Galder did not play and replaced him with Mike Ernst. He was signed in October by the New York Jets to back up 3rd string quarterback

Bill Demory Bill Demory (born December 1, 1950) is a retired American football quarterback. He is currently a professor of economics at Central Arizona College. Football career Demory played for the Arizona Wildcats football, University of Arizona Wildcats ...

after their top two quarterbacks, Joe Namath and

Al Woodall Frank Alley Woodall (born December 7, 1945) is a retired American football player. He played college football at Duke Blue Devils, Duke where he was an All-American. He played several seasons with the Jets in the AFL and NFL. He started several ...

, were hurt. The Jets released him after two games in which Van Galder did not play. In 1973, Van Galder became a sportscaster in St. Louis for

KMOV KMOV (channel 4) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Circle owned-and-operated station KDTL-LD (channel 16). The two stations s ...

, where he spent 13 years. Van Galder died from cancer in St. Charles, Missouri, on January 26, 2022, at the age of 77.Former NFL Quarterback Has Died At 77
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Galder, Tim 1944 births 2022 deaths American football quarterbacks Iowa State Cyclones football players New York Jets players St. Louis Cardinals (football) players New Mexico Military Institute Broncos football players Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin Cincinnati Bengals players Madison West High School alumni Deaths from cancer in Missouri