Travis Richard Jervey (born May 5, 1972) is a former American football running back. He played for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

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 ...

, and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

of 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 Packers, he won

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

over the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and participated in the

1998 Pro Bowl The 1998 Pro Bowl was the NFL's all-star game for the 1997 season. The game was played on February 1, 1998, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The final score was AFC 29, NFC 24. Warren Moon of the Seattle Seahawks, invited to participate ...

Football career

Early years

Jervey attended

Wando High School Wando High School (often shortened to "Wando") is a public high school within the Charleston County School District, located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, United States. The school serves students living in Mount Pleasant and other suburban po ...

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. In the Low Country, it is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state's fastest-growin ...

and played collegiately at

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

in neighboring Charleston, where he was the backup to Everette Sands for three years. Jervey also considered playing for

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, but that program only offered him a partial scholarship. During his senior season, Jervey set a school record with a 96 yard run against VMI in the

Oyster Bowl The Oyster Bowl is a regular season college football game played annually in the Hampton Roads-area of Virginia. The game has featured match-ups between high school, NCAA Division III, and at present, NCAA Division I teams, at various points in it ...

. Jervey was later inducted into both The Citadel and South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Jervey was a 5th round pick (170th overall) of the Packers in the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

; lead scout John Dorsey suggested taking

Terrell Davis Terrell Lamar Davis (born October 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2001. He is the Broncos all-time leading rusher and ...

with the pick but general manager

Ron Wolf Ronald Wolf (born December 30, 1938) is the former American football general manager (GM) of the National Football League's Green Bay Packers. Wolf is widely credited with bringing success to a Packers franchise that had rarely won during the two ...

was worried about Davis' injury history and took Jervey instead. In the 1996 season, Jervey participated in the "NFL's Fastest Man" competition and placed fourth. After playing exclusively at running back in college, Jervey began playing on special teams with the Packers and made the

as a special teams player. In 1998, Jervey started five games in place of the injured

Dorsey Levens Herbert Dorsey Levens (born May 21, 1970) is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round (149th overall) of the 1994 NFL Draft. He helped the Packers win t ...

before sustaining a broken ankle. As his rookie contract was up after 1998, the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

originally offered Jervey a three-year contract but later rescinded; he re-signed on a one-year deal with the Packers.

San Francisco 49ers

In 1999, he signed a four-year free agent contract with the 49ers worth $6 million. While still recovering from a broken ankle, Jervey claimed to take testosterone shots, but the league said Jervey took steroids and suspended him for four games. In the 2000 season, Jervey returned kicks for the 49ers, but his season came to an early end after he suffered a broken collarbone against the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

. After reportedly taking a pay cut prior to the 1999 season, Jervey would not negotiate a lower level of compensation for the 2000 season and was released on March 19 in what was viewed as a move to save salary cap space.

Atlanta Falcons

Jervey signed with the

on May 1, 2001. He played in every game that year, mostly on special teams. He was re-signed for the 2002 season, but a torn

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

ended his season in late October. His 2003 season with the Falcons was derailed by a neck sprain sustained late in the season.

Personal life

While playing for the Packers, Jervey lived with teammate

LeShon Johnson LeShon Eugene Johnson (born January 15, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a running back and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the 1990s. He played college football for N ...

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

. The two owned a pet lion named Nala after previously being dissuaded from owning a monkey. He was arrested for speeding in his Ferrari and marijuana possession in February 1998, but the marijuana charges were later dropped when it was determined that law enforcement misidentified a substance in his car. Jervey is married. He is an avid surfer, and previously held land in

Dominical, Puntarenas Dominical is a beach-front town in Bahía Ballena District, of the Osa canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica, approximately 45 km south of Quepos. It is well known for large, year-round waves and is popular among surfers in Costa Ri ...

when he wintered in Costa Rica to ride waves. Jervey returned to football in a one-off coaching appearance for the American team in the 2015

Medal of Honor Bowl The Medal of Honor Bowl was an American college football all-star game played in Charleston, South Carolina, in January 2014 and 2015. The bowl was not sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Primary beneficiaries of th ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jervey, Travis 1972 births Living people Players of American football from Columbia, South Carolina American football running backs The Citadel Bulldogs football players Green Bay Packers players San Francisco 49ers players Atlanta Falcons players National Conference Pro Bowl players