Mark Donald Herrmann (born January 8, 1959) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for twelve seasons. Herrmann played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname ...

, and was a unanimous All-American in 1980. He was selected in the 1981 NFL draft by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, and also played for three other NFL teams during his career. After retiring from football he became the Associate Director of Educational Programs for the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, and currently works as a football broadcaster, previously serving on the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

broadcast crew for nearly a decade.

Early life

Herrmann was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and raised in Carmel, Indiana, where he played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

for Carmel High School. He also played on Carmel's state championship

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team in 1977.

College career

Herrmann attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he played for coach Jim Young's Boilermakers teams from 1977 to 1980. Herrmann had an impressive college career; in 1980 he was recognized as a consensus first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, he was selected as the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

's Most Valuable Player, and he finished fourth in voting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

. His 9,946 career passing yards set an NCAA record (which has since been broken). He is one of only three Purdue quarterbacks to start in three consecutive bowl games ( Drew Brees did the same, and Kyle Orton started four straight). Herrmann won all three of his bowl games, and was selected Most Valuable Player in each of them: the 1978 Peach Bowl, the 1979 Bluebonnet Bowl, and the 1980

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

. He also holds the Liberty Bowl record for passing touchdowns. *1977: 2,453 yards with 18 TD vs 27 INT in 11 games. *1978: 1,904 yards with 14 TD vs 12 INT in 11 games. *1979: 2,377 yards with 16 TD vs 19 INT in 11 games. *1980: 3,212 yards with 23 TD vs 17 INT in 11 games. Also won the Sammy Baugh Trophy. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in May 2010.

Professional career

Herrmann was drafted by the

in 1981, but did not play in his first year out of college. In 1982, he appeared in two games, but at the end of the season he was traded to the Baltimore Colts as part of the deal that brought John Elway to Denver. In 1983–84 Herrmann saw limited action with the Colts, first at Baltimore and then at Indianapolis. In 1985, he was traded to the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

, where he played for three seasons and performed well as the backup to Dan Fouts. Herrmann then played for the

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

in 1988–89, and returned to the Colts for three seasons before retiring in 1992. Herrmann appeared in just 40 games during his 11-year pro career, completing 334 passes in 561 attempts (59.5%) for a total of 4,015 yards. He threw 16 touchdown passes and was intercepted 36 times.

Personal life

Herrmann lives in Indianapolis with his wife Susie. He has three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrmann, Mark 1959 births Living people American football quarterbacks Baltimore Colts players Denver Broncos players Indianapolis Colts players Los Angeles Rams players Purdue Boilermakers football players San Diego Chargers players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Carmel, Indiana Carmel High School (Indiana) alumni Players of American football from Cincinnati Players of American football from Indiana