Russell John "Rusty" Lisch (born December 21, 1956) is an American former

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 ...

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 ...

. He played five seasons for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

(1980–1983) and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

(1984). In five seasons in the NFL, Lisch only managed one touchdown versus 11 interceptions, and ended his career with a 25.1 passer rating. He is considered by many to be one of the least effective quarterbacks in NFL history, if not the least effective, to have started multiple games.

Career

At the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, Lisch was part of

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Univers ...

's first recruiting class in 1975. He made his first

start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

in place of injured Rick Slager in 1976, achieving a 40–27 victory against Miami. He started the first three games of 1977, but then yielded the starting job to

Joe Montana Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...

. Lisch would finally be named the permanent starting quarterback as a fifth-year senior in 1979, winning seven of ten starts, highlighted by his 336-yard passing effort as the Irish rallied from a 17–3 deficit against South Carolina for an 18–17 victory. Lisch began his professional football career as the third-string quarterback with the

. He completed six of 17 passes for 68 yards in the second half of a season-ending 31–7 loss to the

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) N ...

Busch Memorial Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium II, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 through 2005. The stadium served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League b ...

on December 21, 1980. With the Cardinals out of playoff contention again, and injuries to

Ken Greene Kenneth Edward Greene (born May 8, 1956) is a former professional American football player who played safety in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, for the St. Louis Cardinals (1978–1982) and San Diego Chargers (1983–1984) ...

and

Roy Green Roy Calvin Green (born June 30, 1957) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He played professionally for the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals (1979-1990) and Philadelphia Eagles (1991–1992). Early life Gree ...

, Lisch was pressed into service as a

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

in the last three games of the 1981 campaign; despite having previously never played the position, he agreed with head coach

Jim Hanifan James Martin Michael Hanifan (September 21, 1933 – November 24, 2020) was an American professional football player and coach. He served as the head coach for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1985 and a ...

and Cardinals coaching staff that this situation was better than being inactive on the sidelines. Lisch's rather poor NFL career caused him to receive the "honor" as the worst player in NFL history from sports blog

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media and Univision Communications, it is currently owned by G/O Media. ''Deadspin'' posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries of ...

in 2011, with the blog saying: One year later, with both

Jim McMahon James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played college football at BYU, where he wa ...

and Steve Fuller injured, Lisch started a game for the Bears against Green Bay, but played so poorly that coach

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

berated Lisch before benching him late in the first half; Ditka inserted running back

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played ...

at quarterback. A 2020

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

article detailing the Bears' perennially subpar quarterback play at the time revealed Lisch had declined to return to the field after being berated for his poor play. On the subsequent flight home, Lisch, a religious man, was reading the Bible when Ditka walked up and told him, "I hope there is something in that book about job opportunities, because you'll need one on Monday." That Monday, Lisch brought Ditka a

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

prior to being released. It would be Lisch's final season in the NFL.

Personal life

His son is former professional basketball player

Kevin Lisch Kevin John Lisch (born May 16, 1986) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). He also holds an Italian passport and is an Australian c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisch, Rusty 1956 births Living people American football quarterbacks St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Chicago Bears players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Sportspeople from Belleville, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois