Mike Merriweather (born November 26, 1960) 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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers,

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, New York Jets, and Green Bay Packers during the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Merriweather was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

, and attended Vallejo High School in northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he played football, baseball, and basketball. He graduated from University of the Pacific in Stockton, where he played college football for the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

. Merriweather is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Professional career

Merriweather was selected in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

(70th overall) of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 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 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...

by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was elected 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 ...

in three consecutive seasons:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. In 1984, Merriweather was fifth in the NFL with fifteen sacks (

Mark Gastineau Marcus Dell Gastineau (born November 20, 1956) is an American former football player who was a defensive end for the New York Jets from 1979 to 1988. A five-time Pro Bowler, he was one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers of his generatio ...

led the league with 22), and was named first-team all-NFL that year. He was named the Steelers' Most Valuable Player in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. After a salary dispute which saw him sit out the entire

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

season, Merriweather was traded to the

for a first-round pick. In his first season with Minnesota in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 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 Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, he became the first in NFL history to score the winning points in an overtime game with a safety when he blocked a punt out of the end zone in a game against the Los Angeles Rams for a final score of 23–21. Vikings' placekicker

Rich Karlis Richard John Karlis (born May 23, 1959) is a former American football placekicker who played nine seasons for the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions in the National Football League from 1982 to 1990. He played college football at ...

had scored a then-record seven field goals, accounting for all 21 points that sent the game into overtime. Merriweather's last year at Minnesota was 1992, and he played his final season in 1993 for the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers. In 1993, Merriweather was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and was inducted into the Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2012.

Life after the NFL

After leaving the NFL, Merriweather worked as an insurance broker in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. In 2013, he became the athletic director at Vacaville Christian High School. He and his wife Sandra live in Stockton, California.

References

External links

Career Stats at Pro Football Reference

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merriweather, Mike 1960 births Living people American football linebackers Pittsburgh Steelers players Minnesota Vikings players New York Jets players Green Bay Packers players American Conference Pro Bowl players Pacific Tigers football players University of the Pacific (United States) alumni African-American players of American football People from St. Albans, Queens 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople