Anthony Lee Adams (born March 9, 1950) is an American former

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player, a quarterback in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

(WFL), National Football League (NFL), and Canadian Football League (CFL).

College career

Adams 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 ...

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gover ...

from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

through

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. With the Aggies, he was the starting quarterback for three years, and the team had a record of 21 wins, 11 losses, and 1 tie. He didn't miss any games, playing in all 33 contests. As a senior in

, Adams set an NCAA record on November 11 with 561 net passing yards and five touchdowns in a 44–16 Aggie win over the Utah Utes. The teams combined for an NCAA record 950 passing yards, and Adams' 561 yards stood for five years, until broken by BYU's Marc Wilson in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, also against Utah. The head coach that worked with Adams for all 3 seasons was Chuck Mills; Adams' number 11 jersey was retired by Utah State in 1972. Adams' final game for Utah State was at home against Weber State on Thanksgiving. Seldom-injured, he left the game early in the first quarter with a lower leg injury, hobbled around the sidelines, and changed into his street clothes at halftime. When the Aggies fell behind early in the fourth quarter, Adams got back in uniform and re-entered the game.

NCAA statistics

Professional career

Adams was selected in the 1973 NFL Draft by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

in the 14th round (343rd overall), but he never actually played for the team that drafted him.

Southern California Sun

His first actual professional season began with the Southern California Sun in the

(WFL) in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, where he statistically had his best pro season, completing 276 of 510 passes for 3905 yards and 23 TDs and 18 interceptions. He was an All-WFL selection that season. He was also named one of the WFL's Tri-MVP's during the 1974 season. He shared this award with Tommy Reamon of the Florida Blazers and J.J. Jennings of the Memphis Southmen. Adams led the Sun to a 13-7 record and the team won the 1974 WFL Western Division. They faced the Hawaiians in the opening round of the '74 WFL playoffs and fell by a score of 32–14.

Kansas City Chiefs

Adams began his career in the NFL in 1975 with the Kansas City Chiefs. During his four years with the Chiefs, he appeared in 50 games, 7 of them as the starting quarterback. He was never able to reach the success that he had in the WFL, winning only 1 of the 7 games that he started. He completed 163 of 319 passing attempts for 2,126 yards, 9 TDs, and 22 interceptions. Adams would no longer be a member of the Chiefs after the 1978 season.

Toronto Argonauts

Adams played 20 games over two seasons (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

–

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

) for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. His best year was 1979, when he completed 241 of 394 passes for 2,692 yards, with 13 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Minnesota Vikings

He finished his career as a strike replacement player with the Minnesota Vikings in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. By this time, Adams was already 37 years old, and this stint with the Vikings didn't do much to revive his career. This was the first playing time he saw since playing in his last season in the CFL in 1980. He started in all 3 games that he played in for the Vikings, losing all three of those games. He completed 49 of his 89 pass attempts for 607 yards while posting 3 Tds and 5 interceptions.

Professional statistics

WFL statistics

CFL statistics

NFL statistics

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Tony 1950 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football quarterbacks Frankfurt Galaxy coaches Kansas City Chiefs players Minnesota Vikings players NFL Europe (WLAF) coaches Southern California Sun players Toronto Argonauts players Utah State Aggies football players Sportspeople from San Antonio Players of American football from San Antonio National Football League replacement players Players of Canadian football from San Antonio