Joe Dan Washington Jr (born September 24, 1953) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

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 ...

(NFL) for 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 ...

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

, 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) NFC South, South division. The Falcon ...

Early career

Washington graduated from Lincoln High School in

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County, Texas, Orange County; it is east of Housto ...

where his father coached football. Washington had a stellar

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 ...

career at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

where he was a two time First-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n and finished third in the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

balloting in 1974 and fifth in 1975. He finished his career at Oklahoma with 4,071 career rushing yards. He is a member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

Washington was drafted fourth overall in the first round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. A knee injury forced him to miss the entire 1976 season for the Chargers. In 1977 he played sparingly, appearing in 13 games while rushing for 217 yards and having 244 yards receiving.

Baltimore Colts

He was traded along with a

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

fifth-round selection (131st overall–traded to

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

for

Greg Landry Gregory Paul Landry (born December 18, 1946) is a former American football player and coach who played quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1981, and again in 1984. He played for the Detroit Lions, Baltimore Colts and ...

) from the Chargers to the Colts for

Lydell Mitchell Lydell Douglas Mitchell (born May 30, 1949) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) with the Baltimore Colts, San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Rams from 1972 to 1980. ...

on August 23, 1978. The transaction was the result of Mitchell's acrimonious contract dispute with Colts management in which he accused team owner Robert Irsay of bad faith bargaining and racial discrimination. In 1978, his first year with the Colts, he had 958 yards rushing, which was a career high. In 1979 he led the NFL with 82 receptions. He also had 750 yards receiving and 884 yards rushing along with seven touchdowns. This led Washington to being voted to the 1979 Pro Bowl. His most memorable performance was on September 18, 1978 in Baltimore's 34–27 victory over the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, when he had a hand in three of the four touchdowns scored by the Colts in a fourth quarter in which both teams combined for 41 points. He helped lead off the scoring by throwing a 54-yard option pass to Roger Carr. Washington followed that up with a 23-yard touchdown catch from Bill Troup. Washington broke a 27–27 deadlock by scoring the game-winner on a 90-yard kickoff return in a driving rainstorm. It was scored in the final seconds of the game after the Patriots came back from 27 to 13. 2] He remains the only NFL player to ever throw a touchdown, catch a touchdown and return a kickoff for a touchdown in a single game.

Washington Redskins

On April 28, 1981, the Washington Redskins obtained Washington by trading a second-round pick in the 1981 NFL Draft to the Baltimore Colts. During his first year with the Redskins in 1981, Washington combined with future Hall of Famer

John Riggins Robert John Riggins (born August 4, 1949), nicknamed "Riggo" and "Diesel", is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. He played col ...

to give the Redskins a formidable running game. Washington led the team in rushing with 916 yards and receptions with 70 to go along with 558 yards receiving. The strike shortened 1982 season was mostly a disappointing season for Washington as he only recorded 190 yards rushing during the 9 game regular season and only touched the ball seven times during the Redskins run through the playoffs where they defeated the Miami Dolphins in

Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. Washington returned to his normal dual threat capabilities in 1983 as he recorded 772 yards rushing and 454 yards receiving as the Redskins returned to the Super Bowl only to lose

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

to the Los Angeles Raiders. During the 1984 season, Washington only played in 7 games for the Redskins and recorded 192 yards rushing.

Atlanta Falcons

He was traded to the Atlanta Falcons during the

1985 NFL Draft The 1985 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985, at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held a ...

and finished his career with one season in Atlanta. During the 1985 season with the Falcons, Washington appeared in all 16 games while recording 210 yards rushing and 37 receptions for 328 yards. Washington retired with 4,839 rushing yards and 3,413 receiving yards and 30 touchdowns in his career.

Post-football career

He had worked as a

financial adviser A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...

for

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

.Klingaman, Mike. "Catching Up With...former Colt Joe Washington," ''The Toy Department'' (''The Baltimore Sun'' sports blog), Wednesday, November 25, 2009.
/ref> With former basketball player Julius Erving, Washington fielded a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

team from 1998 to 2000. In May 2007, Washington returned to the University of Oklahoma, to serve as the special assistant to the director of athletics/executive director of the Varsity O Association.

References

External links

Joe Washington (statistics & history) – Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Washington's NFL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Joe 1953 births Living people All-American college football players Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Texas American football running backs Baltimore Colts players San Diego Chargers players Washington Redskins players Atlanta Falcons players American Conference Pro Bowl players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Port Arthur, Texas