Thomas Alvin Janik (September 6, 1940 – November 21, 2009) 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 wi ...

player. Born in Poth, Texas, he attended the Texas College of Arts and Industries—now known as

Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M University–Kingsville is a Public university, public research university in Kingsville, Texas. It is the southernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System. The university developed the nation's first doctoral degree in bilingual ...

— where he was an all-conference running back and punter. He was inducted to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982. Janik was a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

for nine seasons of professional football. He played for the American Football League's

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 headquar ...

, Buffalo Bills, and Boston Patriots, and for the NFL's Patriots. He was an AFL All-Star in 1965, when he played for the

AFL Champion For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

Bills, and again in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. One of Janik's biggest games was the September 29, 1968 contest at home against the New York Jets, in which the Bills' defensive backfield picked off Joe Namath five times, three times for touchdowns as Butch Byrd and Booker Edgerson had 53 and 45-yard TD interceptions within 1:02, and Janik had one of two picks go for a 100-yard score. The Bills won a barn-burner, 37–35, which was Buffalo's only win of the season. The Jets went on to finish 11–3, and won the AFL title before going on to defeat the Colts in

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...

References

1940 births 2009 deaths American football punters American football safeties Boston Patriots players Buffalo Bills players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players New England Patriots players American Football League All-Star players People from Wilson County, Texas Players of American football from Texas American Football League players {{defensiveback-1940s-stub

See also

References