Wendell Avery Tyler (born May 20, 1955) is a former professional

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 ...

player who was selected by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

in the 3rd round of the

1977 NFL Draft The 1977 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 NFL draft, draft was held May 3–4, 1977 NFL season, 19 ...

. A 5'10", 198 lbs.

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 ...

from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, Tyler played in 10 NFL seasons from 1977 to 1986 for the

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

. In 1979, he helped lead the Rams to

Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

, where they were defeated 31-19 by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. In 1984, he rushed for a 49er team record 1,262 yards during the regular season, and also caught 28 passes for 230 yards, was selected 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 ...

, and played in

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

in which the 49ers defeated the

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

38-16. Tyler was the first player ever to lead two teams in rushing in two Super Bowls.

College career

Tyler played running back at UCLA from 1973–1976 and is fifth in career rushing yards for the Bruins, with 3,240 yards. 1976 All-Conference and 3rd team All American, Tyler was on the 1975 UCLA team that won the

Pacific-8 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divis ...

Conference and defeated number one ranked

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in the Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.

Personal life

Tyler's son,

Marc Tyler Marc Anthony Tyler (born September 27, 1988) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Southern California. Tyler was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2012. High school career Tyler a ...

was rated by

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 ...

as the top

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

running back in the United States graduating in 2007. Marc played football at powerhouse

Oaks Christian High School Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 5–12. Oaks Christian School is located on in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established i ...

Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vil ...

and played college football for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

, the chief rival of his father's alma mater, UCLA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Wendell 1955 births Living people Players of American football from Shreveport, Louisiana American football running backs UCLA Bruins football players Los Angeles Rams players San Francisco 49ers players National Conference Pro Bowl players