Timothy John Rossovich (March 14, 1946 – December 6, 2018) was an American 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

and a television and movie

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, active from 1977 to 1998. He was the brother of actor Rick Rossovich.

Biography

Rossovich was born in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. Tim is ranked 20th on the list of "greatest high school defensive football players of all time". After graduating high school, he turned down a pitching position with the Pittsburgh Pirates because he wanted to play in the NFL one day. He 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 ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and was one of five

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

players taken in the first round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft after his senior year. Rossovich played for 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 ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

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 ...

, and

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

between 1968 and 1976. He played in the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

in 1969. In March 1974, he was selected by the Philadelphia Bell in the first round (3rd overall) of the 1974 WFL pro draft. He opted to sign with the Philadelphia Bell of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

, where he played until the league folded midway through the 1975 season. In 1977, Rossovich appeared in the episode "The Shortest Yard" of the ABC

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' The San Pedro Beach Bums''. He played Detective Noodles in the Cheech and Chong 1981 comedy Nice Dreams alongside

Peter Jason Peter Edward Ostling (July 22, 1944 – February 20, 2025), better known as Peter Jason, was an American character actor. He often played military personnel, law enforcement agents, and authority figures in both films and television series. Earl ...

. He also appeared in the 1982 movie

Night Shift The shift plan, rota or roster (esp. British) is the central component of a schedule (workplace), shift schedule in shift work. The schedule includes considerations of shift overlap, shift change times and alignment with the clock, vacation, train ...

as the boyfriend of Shelley Long's character. The movie also starred

Henry Winkler Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. Widely known as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984), Winkler has distinguished himself as a character acto ...

and Michael Keaton. Rossovich died due to

respiratory arrest Respiratory arrest is a serious medical condition caused by apnea or respiratory dysfunction severe enough that it will not sustain the body (such as agonal breathing). Prolonged apnea refers to a patient who has stopped breathing for a long period ...

on December 6, 2018, in Grass Valley, California.

Filmography

References

External links

Tim Rossovich (statistics) – Pro-Football-Reference.com.
* * Underwood, Joh

''Sports Illustrated'', September 20, 1971 Top 50 high school football defensive players of all time {{DEFAULTSORT:Rossovich, Tim 1946 births 2018 deaths Male actors from Palo Alto, California Players of American football from Palo Alto, California All-American college football players American male film actors American male television actors Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Philadelphia Eagles players USC Trojans football players Saint Francis High School (Mountain View, California) alumni