Wayne Lamar Gandy (born February 10, 1971) is a former American college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was an

offensive tackle 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 ...

in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. 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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, and earned All-American honors. He was drafted by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the first round of the

1994 NFL Draft The 1994 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 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Mar ...

, and he also played professionally for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, New Orleans Saints 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 NFL.

Early years

Gandy was born in Haines City, Florida.National Football League, Historical Players
Wayne Gandy
Retrieved February 10, 2012. He attended

Haines City High School Haines City Senior High School (HCHS) is a public high school in Haines City, Florida. The school has existed in three separate locations. Overview Haines City Senior High School belongs to the Polk County School Board and is a member of Polk Di ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Wayne Gandy
. Retrieved February 10, 2012. and played for the Haines City Hornets high school football team.

College career

Gandy attended Auburn University, where he played for coach Pat Dye and coach Terry Bowden's Auburn Tigers football teams from 1990 to 1993. As a senior, he was a member of the undefeated

1993 Auburn Tigers football team The 1993 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. Under first-year head coach Terry Bowden, the team went undefeated with a record of 11–0 and finished #4 in the AP Poll. Due to N ...

, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

Professional career

The Los Angeles Rams selected Gandy as the 15th overall pick (1st round) of the

, and he played for the Rams for five seasons from to .Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Wayne Gandy
Retrieved February 10, 2012. Gandy spent four seasons with the

from 1999 to 2002. On March 2, 2003, Gandy signed a six-year deal with New Orleans Saints. After three seasons with the Saints, he was traded to the

on April 7, 2006 for safety

Bryan Scott Bryan Anderson Scott (born April 13, 1981) is a former American football linebacker and safety. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State University. He was also a ...

and a draft pick. For the 2007 season, Gandy was named as one of the Falcons' team captains. On October 7 against the Tennessee Titans, Gandy suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, causing him to miss the remainder of the season. On February 15, 2008 the Falcons released him. He was re-signed on October 29 after an injury to

Sam Baker. He was not re-signed by the Falcons during the 2009 offseason.

Broadcasting career

In late 2001 Gandy was asked by WSB-Radio Atlanta to record some vignettes for its "I Am Atlanta" campaign. After the success of the ads, he was encouraged to pursue a career in broadcasting. He started his own syndication company (The Gandy Group) and launched "The Sports Joc Show with Wayne Gandy". The syndicated three hour show broadcasts from Atlanta and intermingles Sports and Entertainment. The show is currently available for broadcast live or replay and has a live video feed at http://www.TheSportsJoc.com Wayne Gandy hosted a weekly TV show for CBS-Atlanta Sports' SEC Show with Guy Rawlings from 2011–2012, and is currently a Color Analyst for ESPN TV (2013–present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandy, Wayne 1971 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive tackles Atlanta Falcons players Auburn Tigers football players Los Angeles Rams players New Orleans Saints players People from Haines City, Florida Pittsburgh Steelers players St. Louis Rams players Ed Block Courage Award recipients