Mike Pawlawski (born July 18, 1969) is a 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, 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 ...

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, and

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Pawlawski 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 ...

at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and led the Golden Bears to a 10–2 record and a #8 national ranking in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. He was selected by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in the eighth round of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 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 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

, playing one season for the team. After spending 1993 and 1994 out of football, Pawlawski signed with the Arena Football League, playing his inaugural season with the

Miami Hooters Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

, then the next five with the

Albany Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

where he established several league records and won Arena Bowl XIII(22 August 1999)
Passing Game Lifts Firebirds to Title
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Pawlawski finished his career with the

San Francisco Demons The San Francisco Demons (originally named San Jose Demons) were a short-lived springtime American football team based in San Francisco, California. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and b ...

of the XFL, where he led his team to an appearance in the league championship. He was one of only three quarterbacks (

Tommy Maddox Thomas Alfred Maddox (born September 2, 1971) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, most notably with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played one season each for the New Je ...

and

Jim Druckenmiller James David Druckenmiller, Jr. (born September 19, 1972) is a former American football quarterback. In his career, Druckenmiller played for the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, as well a ...

being the other two) to last the whole XFL season without being injured or losing their job.Beck, Martin (23 August 1992)
He Doesn't Plan to Come Up Short : Quarterback Mike Pawlawski From Cal Is Confident Despite Being Drafted in the Eighth Round by the Buccaneers
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' It was later revealed, however, that Pawlawski had played the season with a fractured vertebra in his neck. It ended his football career. He is currently the host of Gridiron Outdoors on

Outdoor Channel Outdoor Channel is an American pay television channel focused on the outdoors, offering programming that includes hunting, fishing, Western lifestyle, off-road motorsports and adventure. The network can be viewed on multiple platforms including ...

and is a radio

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for Cal football on KGO 810 and the Cal radio network.

References

External links

Outdoor Channel: Mike PawlawskiGrid Iron Outdoors: Mike Pawlawski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawlawski, Mike 1969 births Living people Albany Firebirds players American football quarterbacks Arena football announcers California Golden Bears football announcers California Golden Bears football players Miami Hooters players Players of American football from Los Angeles San Francisco Demons players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Shreveport Pirates players Sportspeople from Los Angeles