Walt Downing (born June 11, 1956) 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 with ...

player. He played professional football as an

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

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 ...

from 1978 to 1983. He played for Bill Walsh and was a member of the 1981 San Francisco 49ers team that won the franchise's first

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 game ...

. He also played for the

Denver Gold The Denver Gold was a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second major professional football league in the United States, playing a springtime season, from 1983 to 1985. The Gold played their home games at Mi ...

in the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

. Downing 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 ...

for

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1975 to 1977. He was a co-captain of the

1977 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1977 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1977 Big Ten Conference football season. In its ninth year under head coach Bo Schembechler, the team compiled a 10–2 ...

and was selected that year as a first-team All-American.

Early years

Downing grew up in

Coatesville, Pennsylvania Coatesville is a city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,350 at the 2020 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia. It developed along the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike beginning ...

. He attended Coatesville High School, where he was a member of the football, wrestling and track teams. He played on the offensive line and at linebacker for the football team and was selected as a Prep All-American. In track, he threw the shot put and discus. He also won the 1972 Pennsylvania sectional championship as a heavyweight in wrestling. He graduated with academic honors in 1974.

Michigan

Downing accepted a scholarship to play football for

at the

. He was a starting offensive lineman in 36 consecutive games for Michigan from 1975 to 1977, playing for teams that finished in the top ten of the AP and UPI polls each year and played in an

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

and two

Rose Bowls The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

. As a sophomore in 1975, he was a starter at the guard position in all 12 games played by the 1975 Michigan team. The 1975 team played in the

1976 Orange Bowl The 1976 Orange Bowl was the 42nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1975–76 bowl game season, it matched the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines of th ...

and finished the season ranked No. 8 in the AP and UPI polls. As a junior, Downing was the starting center in all 12 games played by the 1976 Michigan team that won the Big Ten Conference championship, advanced to the 1977 Rose Bowl, and finished the season ranked No. 3 in both the AP and UPI Polls. He was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference center after the 1976 season. As a senior, Downing was a co-captain of the 1977 Michigan team. For the second consecutive season, he was the starting center in all 12 games played by the Michigan team. The team won Michigan's second consecutive conference championship, played in the

1978 Rose Bowl The 1978 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, played on Monday, January 2, and was the 64th Rose Bowl Game. The Washington Huskies, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the favored Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Co ...

, and finished the season ranked No. 9 and No. 8 in the AP and UPI Polls. He was a starter on Michigan's 1975 and 1976

offensive 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 numbe ...

s that produced two games in which Michigan had three rushers accumulate 100 yards. At the end of the 1977 season, Downing was selected as a first-team All-American by UPI, ''The Sporting News'', the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

, Kodak, and Playboy. Downing was the seventh Michigan center to be selected as a first-team All-American. He was also named the best collegiate offensive lineman by the Touchdown Club of Columbus, Ohio.

Professional football

Downing was selected by the

in the second round (47th overall pick) of the

1978 NFL Draft The 1978 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 2–3, 1978, at the Roosevelt Hote ...

. He signed a contract with the 49ers in June 1978. As a rookie in 1978, Downing was a starter in 15 of 16 regular season games for the 49ers. He was named to the UPI's NFL All-Rookie team at the end of the 1978 season. Although he lost his role as a starter in 1979, he appeared in all 16 games for the 49ers during the 1980 season. In 1981, he was a member of the 49ers team that defeated the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

Super Bowl XVI Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. Downing played six seasons and appeared in 83 games for the 49ers from 1978 to 1983. In May 1984, the 49ers traded Downing to 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 exchange for a 1985 draft pick. He opted instead to play in the

for the

Later years

After retiring from football, Downing moved to

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...

. As of 2011, he was employed as vice president of sales for Green Lines Transportation, a trucking company in

Malvern, Ohio Malvern is a village in northwestern Carroll County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,110 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Canton–Massillon metropolitan area. History Malvern was laid out in 1834. The village was named after M ...

. Downing's son T. J. Downing played college football for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

from 2004 to 2006. In 2011, Downing was inducted into the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame. He had previously been inducted into the Coatesville Hall of Fame and the Coatesville High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Walt 1956 births Living people People from Coatesville, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Chester County, Pennsylvania American football offensive linemen Michigan Wolverines football players San Francisco 49ers players

Early years

Michigan

Professional football

Later years

See also

References