Thomas Richard Blanchard (born May 28, 1948) is a former

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 wi ...

punter with an 11-year career 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) for the New York Giants,

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

, and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

Biography

Blanchard played college football at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he was

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 ...

as well as punter. He led Grants Pass High School to the 1964 state high school football championship as a junior. Blanchard was drafted by the Giants in 12th round of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

. After 3 years with the Giants he was beaten out for the punting position during the preseason by rookie Dave Jennings and waived. He was signed by the Saints one game into the 1974 season after the Saints waived their opening day punter Donnie Gibbs after Gibbs had fumbled a snap leading to the Saints to lose their first game of the season. With the Saints in 1974 he kicked a 71 yard punt, which was the longest punt in the NFL that season. In 1975 he led the NFL with 3776 punting yards and in 1976 he led the NFL with 101 punts. He was traded by the Saints to the Buccaneers for a draft pick before the 1979 season after the Saints drafted placekicker

Russell Erxleben Russell Erxleben (born January 13, 1957) is a former American football player and currency investor. He shares the record for the longest successful field goal in NCAA history at 67 yards (with tee), which he set in 1977 while playing for the Uni ...

, who was also able to punt, in the first round of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 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 May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astori ...

. Blanchard injured his

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

in the Bucs' third game of the 1981 season and was waived after recovering, with

Larry Swider Lawrence John Swider (February 1, 1955 – August 7, 2021) was an American football punter. He attended DuBois Area High School in DuBois, Pennsylvania, where he was a standout athlete. He played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1979 ...

taking his job in the interim. His two sons, Tommy (the eldest) and Jimmy (five years the junior) both were starting quarterbacks at Grants Pass High School, leading their respective teams to the playoffs. Tommy's son Jace also played quarterback at Grants Pass High School. After retiring as a player, spent time as the football coach, softball coach and athletic director at Grants Pass High School. He retired from these positions in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Tom 1948 births Living people American football punters American football quarterbacks New Orleans Saints players New York Giants players Oregon Ducks football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Sportspeople from Grants Pass, Oregon Players of American football from Oregon