Marion Leo Hart (born March 3, 1949) is an American former 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 a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

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 ...

(NFL). 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 the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

and was selected in the third round of the

1971 NFL draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

. He played in the NFL for the

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 ...

and

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

. "Leo Hart stands as one of the most decorated football players in Duke History. The strong armed quarterback virtually re-wrote the Duke and ACC record books during his playing days with the Blue Devils." In 1988 Hart was inducted into Duke Sports Hall of Fame. Hart was inducted into the Kinston/Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2008 he became a member of the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

Early career

Hart went to Grainger High School in Kinston, North Carolina. He played college football at Duke University, where he was a three time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection 1968-1970. He was selected as a Duke most valuable player 1969-1970 (as a junior and as a senior). While at Duke, Hart passed for a record 6,116 yards and held an ACC record 487 pass completions. At Duke Leo was a member of Phi Delt fraternity.

NFL career

Hart's NFL Career Stats

Post career

Leo Hart and Dr. Frank Bassett were two pivotal players in spearheading the Duke Football Campaign, which was the fund-raising effort for the Yoh Football Center. Over half of all donations (approximately $8 million) that made the building possible came from former Blue Devil football players. This $22 million complex opened in August 2002.http://www.campusdestinations.com/duke/destination/113/Yoh-Football-Complex

Personal life

Leo is married to Glenda Brodrick Hart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Leo 1949 births Living people American football quarterbacks Atlanta Falcons players Buffalo Bills players Duke Blue Devils football players Players of American football from North Carolina