Jean-Philippe "J. P." Darche (born February 28, 1975) 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 wit ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point at ...

. He was signed and drafted by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

in 1999. He played

CIS football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic conf ...

at McGill. Darche has also played for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

. He is the older brother of

Mathieu Darche Mathieu Darche (born November 26, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for several AHL and NHL clubs. Mathieu is the younger brother of long snapper J. P. Darche. After attending the New Jersey Devils training cam ...

, a former National Hockey League player.

Early years

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Quebec, Canada, Darche's first love was

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

. As a youth, along with hockey, he played Bantam AA inter-city

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

with the St-Laurent Orioles. Hockey was his primary sport until high school, when he started playing American football. Darche's younger brother

Mathieu Mathieu is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * André Mathieu (1929–1968), Canadian pianist and composer * Anselme Mathieu (1828–1895), French Provençal poet * Claude-Louis Mathieu (1783–1875), ...

is a retired hockey player of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

High school years

Darche attended

Collège Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in Montreal. He was a letterman in football. In football, after his senior season, he was voted to participate in the

High School of Montreal The High School of Montreal was an English-language high school founded in 1843, serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the area eventually known as the Golden Square Mile. It was less formally known as Montreal High School and from 1853 to 1870 wa ...

All-Star football game.

Junior college years

Darche attended

Collège André-Grasset Collège André-Grasset is a private college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located near the Quebec Autoroute 40 and the Crémazie metro station. The college was founded in 1927 by the priests of Saint-Sulpice Seminary (Montreal) and na ...

and was an honor student and named Athlete of the Year as a sophomore. His number 44 jersey was retired by the team.

University career

Darche attended

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Montreal where he was a star

middle 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, ...

McGill Redmen The McGill Redbirds (formerly the McGill Redmen) and McGill Martlets are the varsity athletic teams that represent McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team name According to Suzanne Morton, a professor of history at McGill, the name ...

football team for five seasons. He was selected as a co-captain his final two seasons. He concluded his collegiate career as the all-time leading tackler in school history with 272 stops (132 solo). He graduated from McGill with a BSc. in physiology in 1998, then entered McGill Medical School for two years before entering the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

in 1999. In 1998, he captured the

Russ Jackson Award The Russ Jackson Award is presented to the U Sports Football player best exemplifying the attributes of academic achievement, football skill, and citizenship and is named in honour of Canadian Football League Hall of Famer and former Ottawa Rough R ...

as the Canadian university football player who best combines athletics with academics and community service.

Professional career

Toronto Argonauts

After playing five seasons for McGill, Darche turned pro with the

of the Canadian Football League in the

1999 CFL season File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shooti ...

. He was drafted in the third round of the

1999 CFL Draft The 1999 CFL Draft took place on Tuesday, April 13, 1999. 46 Canadian football players were chosen from eligible players from Canadian universities as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. Of the 46 draft selections, 28 players were draf ...

, the first linebacker selected that year, and signed with the team on June 4, 1999, just in time to report for training camp. He recorded 16 special teams tackles in 16 regular season games and one playoff game over the

1999 Toronto Argonauts season The 1999 Toronto Argonauts finished in third place in the East Division of the 1999 CFL season with a 9–9 record and lost the East Division Semi-Finals. Offseason CFL draft Preseason Regular season Season standings Regular season ...

, the most of anyone on the team.

Seattle Seahawks

He played one season as a long snapper with the Argonauts before signing with the NFL's

in 2000, since then Darche was responsible for the long snaps. He became the second

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the C ...

graduate to play the Super Bowl when he participated in

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

in 2006. At the beginning of the 2006 season, he was named one of the Seahawks' captains. He was released by the Seahawks in February 2007 after a hip injury in the

2006 NFL season The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006. The season began with the reigning Super Bowl XL champion Pittsburgh defeating the Miami in ...

. In his seven seasons in Seattle, he played in 97 games, recording 18 special teams tackles. He also had one fumble recovery and one forced fumble on special teams. The fumble recovery during the 2005 ensured that the Seahawks would win in St. Louis for the first time since 1997.

Kansas City Chiefs

He was signed by the

in March 2007 after

Kendall Gammon Kendall Robert Gammon (born October 23, 1968) is a former American football long snapper and center who played for three teams in the National Football League (NFL). In 2004, Gammon was the first pure long snapper to be selected for the Pro Bowl ...

retired. He got hurt during the 2008 season and spent the remainder of the year on Injured Reserve. Darche was then released on March 19, 2009.

Post NFL career

After being not being signed for the

2009 NFL season The 2009 NFL season was the 90th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL). The 50th anniversary of the original eight charter members of the American Football League was celebrated during this season. The preseason started ...

, Darche decided to retire from football and to continue his studies in medicine at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. He has been named to the

Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active Chapters in 132 LCME- accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new ...

Honour Medical Society. He has finished a fellowship in sports medicine and practices at the University of Kansas Health System. He is a team physician for his former team, Kansas City Chiefs.

References

External links

NFL.com statsESPN.com statsMcGill Athletics feature on DarcheKansas City Chiefs profileJust Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darche, Jean-Philippe 1975 births Living people American football long snappers Canadian football linebackers Canadian players of American football Kansas City Chiefs players McGill Redbirds football players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Seattle Seahawks players Canadian football people from Montreal Toronto Argonauts players Gridiron football people from Quebec