Thomas J. Yewcic (May 9, 1932 – October 21, 2020) 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 ...

and punter and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player. He attended

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. In football, he played from 1961 to 1966 with the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

of 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. ...

(AFL), and is a member of the Patriots All-1960s (AFL) Team. In baseball, he played one game for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in 1957.

Football career

Playing quarterback, Yewcic had a career-high 90 yards rushing and led his Boston Patriots to a 24–17 victory over the New York Titans at

Boston University Field Nickerson Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Northeastern United States, on the campus of Boston University (BU) in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned by BU, and is the home field for some Boston University Terriers athletics ...

on November 30, 1962. Yewcic punted 377 times for 14,553 yards over the 1961 through 1966 regular seasons for the Boston Patriots. He also was used as a flanker and running back. He completed 87 passes for 1,374 yards and 12 touchdowns and had 72 carries for 424 yards and four touchdowns. He caught seven passes for 69 yards and recovered three fumbles in 77 regular season games. Yewcic played in two playoff games for the Boston Patriots and completed three passes for eight yards, ran for a 10-yard gain and punted 14 times for a total of 523 yards. His longest punt in the playoffs was 68 yards. Yewcic had a career long 46-yard run in the Patriots 14–10 loss to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

on September 29, 1963. His career longest reception was 46 yards in their 45–17 rout of the Denver Broncos on September 16, 1961. Yewcic's longest punt was 70 yards in their 27–23 win over the New York Jets on November 28, 1965. Yewcic holds the team record for the longest run by a Patriots punter in a regular season game: a 20-yard gain in the Patriots 26–16 win over 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 ...

at Boston University Field on October 26, 1962. Yewcic is tied with Chris Hanson for the most games with only one punt (4) during their career with the Patriots. Yewcic averaged a career best 40.7 yards per punt for the 1965 season. Yewcic and

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

are the only Patriots players who have punted, thrown a touchdown pass, caught a pass, and run for a touchdown. After his playing career, Yewcic served as an assistant coach with the Patriots under

Mike Holovak Michael Joseph Holovak (September 19, 1919 – January 27, 2008) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He played college football at Boston College, where he was an All-American at fullback in 1942. Holovak was the fifth ov ...

(1968) and

Chuck Fairbanks Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...

(1976–1978), coached college and semipro football, and worked in private business. He and his family lived in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History ...

. Tom Yewcic Football Stadium at Conemaugh Valley High School is named for him.

Baseball career

As a baseball player at Michigan State, Yewcic was named the

College World Series Most Outstanding Player The College World Series Most Outstanding Player is an award for the best individual performance during the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The recipient of the award is announced at the completion of the College World Series Championship ...

of the 1954 College World Series despite his team not reaching the championship game. After signing with the

, he began his career with the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

Wilkes-Barre Barons The Wilkes-Barre Barons were a basketball team from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Barons played between 1933 and 1980 in different American leagues. The team won 11 titles during this time, including while playing in the American Basketball ...

in 1954. During his four-season

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

career, he went on to play one game as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

with the big-league Tigers on June 27, 1957. He was a defensive replacement for the Tigers' starting catcher,

Red Wilson Robert James "Red" Wilson (March 7, 1929 – August 8, 2014) was a professional baseball and college baseball and football player. He played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox (1951–1954), Detroit Tigers (1954–1960 ...

, also a former

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

football star (in his case, at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

), in the sixth

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

of a game at

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Bounda ...

in which the Tigers were trailing the Washington Senators, 6–2. Yewcic caught the game's final three innings, making one

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

in six

total chances In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...

. He came to bat once, in the seventh inning against

Tex Clevenger Truman Eugene "Tex" Clevenger (July 9, 1932 – August 24, 2019) was an American Major League Baseball relief pitcher and spot starter who played for the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees from 1954 to ...

, and popped out to Washington

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

Milt Bolling Milton Joseph Bolling (August 9, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was a shortstop in Major League Baseball who played from 1952 through 1958 for the Boston Red Sox (1952–1957), Washington Senators (1957) and Detroit Tigers (1958). Bolling batted a ...

. He continued to play in baseball's minor leagues until 1959, when he switched to football.

College career

Yewcic is still the only player to win a Rose Bowl and also be named the College World Series Most Valuable Player - in the same year no less. He was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003 and was named th
MSU Baseball Distinguished Alumnus of the Year
in 2013. One of the most decorated Spartans in school history, Yewcic was the starting quarterback in 1952 and 1953, leading the Spartans to an undefeated national championship in '52 and the program's first-ever Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl victory during the '53 season. In the spring of 1954, the first-team All-American catcher helped the baseball team win its first Big Ten title and advance to the College World Series for the first time in program history. Yewcic and the Spartans went 3-2 at the College World Series to finish in third place, as Michigan State closed the year with a 25-10-1 record, then a school record for victories. Yewcic was named the CWS Most Valuable Player for his outstanding performance in MSU's five games. He also became the first player in program history to be named a first-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association, as he hit .305 with three homers, five doubles and 12 RBI in conference play. Yewcic was also a three-year letterwinner in football (1951–53) and earned All-America status in 1952 by NBC-TV after leading the Spartans to an undefeated 9-0 season and the consensus national championship. As the team's starting quarterback, he completed 41-of-95 passes for 941 yards, then a school season record, and 10 touchdowns. In his first game as a starting quarterback, he was 7-of-14 passing for 171 yards and rallied the Spartans to a 27-13 win at Michigan. Yewcic was just the second Spartan QB to reach the 200-yard passing mark when he threw for 202 yards in the 48-6 win over Texas A&M. Yewcic also played quarterback on the 1953 Big Ten Championship team that went 9-1 and defeated UCLA in the program's first-ever appearance in the Rose Bowl. He threw for seven touchdowns and 489 yards as a senior that season. He finished his career with 18 touchdown passes and 1,480 passing yards as the Spartans compiled a 27-1 record during his three years on the team. He also was the starting punter for MSU from 1951–53 and averaged 38.7 yards per punt (4,762 yards on 123 punts).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yewcic, Tom 1932 births 2020 deaths All-American college baseball players American Football League players American football punters American football quarterbacks Augusta Tigers players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Birmingham Barons players Boston Patriots (AFL) coaches Boston Patriots players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charleston Senators players College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award winners Detroit Tigers players Major League Baseball catchers Michigan State Spartans baseball players Michigan State Spartans football players New England Patriots coaches People from Arlington, Massachusetts People from Cambria County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players

Football career

Baseball career

College career

See also

References

External links