Anthony Lewis Tolbert (born December 29, 1967) 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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

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 majo ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at the University of Texas-El Paso. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1989 NFL Draft.

Early years

Tolbert grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and attended Dwight Morrow High School, where he was an All-conference selection. He accepted a football scholarship from the University of Texas-El Paso. He was light for a

(6 feet 2 inches and 175 pounds as a freshman), but developed into a pass rusher. As a junior, he was named the starter at outside linebacker, contributing to a 7-4 record, for the program first winning season since 1970. He posted 49 tackles (5 for loss), 4 sacks, 3 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries. Against

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado S ...

, he tallied had 5 tackles and one sack, helping the school win its first football road game in seven years. His best year was his senior season, when he tied a school record with 11 sacks, while making 101 tackles, 15 tackles for loss (led the team), 2 passes defensed, one forced fumble and earning All- WAC honors. UTEP's 1988 team is the winningest football team in school history with 10 wins. It also clinched its first bowl bid since 1967, losing 38-18 to Southern Mississippi University in the Independence Bowl. In 2014, he was named to the UTEP football Centennial team. He graduated with a degree in criminal justice.

Professional career

Tolbert was selected by the

in the fourth round (85th overall) of the 1989 NFL Draft, after falling because he was considered a tweener (slow to play

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and light for a

at 230 pounds). As a rookie, he was converted into a

. He started 5 games at left defensive end over Ed "Too Tall" Jones, making 52 tackles, 2 sacks, 18 quarterback pressures, 5 passes defensed (led the team) and one forced fumble. He had 10 tackles, one pass defensed and one forced fumble against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, he played at both end positions and

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

on passing downs. He started 4 games, in place of an injured Jim Jeffcoat and Danny Stubbs. He registered 55 tackles, 6 sacks (third on the team), 24 quarterback pressures (third on the team), 3 passes defensed and one forced fumble. In 1991, he took advantage of a contract holdout by Stubbs and became the regular starter at left defensive end. He posted 73 tackles (fifth on the team), 7 sacks (led the team), 25 quarterback pressures (led the team), 5 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles. In 1996, he was named to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

, when he had a career-high of 12 sacks and 85 tackles. Tolbert played with chronic knee pain through the final years of his career, because of a degenerative knee condition. Despite playing in pain, Tolbert started all 16 games in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, compiled five sacks and led all Cowboys

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

men in tackles for the seventh consecutive season, with 60. Tolbert's five sacks were the most on the team that year. On June 16 1998, he was released because of his declining performance while playing on aching knees. As a

for the Cowboys from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, he played an important role in the Cowboys' rise to prominence in the 1990s and their three

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

victories. Tolbert became one of the stalwarts, on one of the best defenses of the 1990s. During that time, he teamed up with Charles Haley to become one of the top pass-rushing duos in the NFL. Although he came into the league as a pass rush specialist, he developed into an effective run stopper, making him the leading tackler among Cowboy

men for seven straight years. During his career, he recorded 59 quarterback sacks in 128 games played over the course of 9 seasons, plus he returned his only interception 54 yards for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. He had more sacks during the 90s than any other Cowboy player.

Personal life

Ten years after he retired, he had knee-replacement surgery on both knees, the result of seven knee surgeries during his nine-year career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Tony 1967 births Living people Dwight Morrow High School alumni People from Englewood, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey American football defensive ends UTEP Miners football players Dallas Cowboys players National Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey Ed Block Courage Award recipients