Jack Ham
| Jack Ham | |
|---|---|
|
Position (s): Linebacker |
Jersey number (s): 59 |
| born December 23, 1948 in Johnstown , Pennsylvania | |
| Career information | |
| Active : 1971 - 1982 | |
| NFL Draft : 1971 / Round: 2 / Pick: 34 | |
| College : Penn State University | |
| Teams | |
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| Career statistics | |
| Interceptions | 32 |
| Sacks | 25th |
| Touchdowns | 2 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
| Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Pro Football Hall of Fame | |
| College Football Hall of Fame | |
Jack Raphael Ham, Jr. (born December 23, 1948 in Johnstown , Pennsylvania , USA ), nickname : "Dobre Shunka" , is a retired American football player . He played as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers .
youth
Jack Ham attended high school in the town where he was born . In the football team of his school he played as linebacker, guard and center . After graduating from school, he wanted to attend the Virginia Military Institute , but first had to complete a year of preparation at the "Massanutten Military Academy" . He was noticed by an assistant coach to Joe Paterno , who looked after the Penn State Nittany Lions , the Penn State University football team. Paterno offered him the last scholarship of the year, which had become available because another student had decided not to study at the college . Ham accepted the offer.
Player career
College career
Jack Ham studied at Penn State University from 1968 to 1970. He played as a linebacker for the Nittany Lions Football . His team won 29 of 32 games during his time at college. In 1969 and 1970 he and his team won the Orange Bowl . In 1970 he was deputy captain of his team and was voted All American for his athletic performance . He graduated from college with a degree in business administration .
Professional career
Jack Ham has been considered physically unsuitable by many scouts in the NFL. He was considered too small and too light. Nevertheless , the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in 1971 in the second round in 34th place. Ham was able to convince his new trainer Chuck Noll in training , who used him in his rookie year as a starter on the linebacker position in defense . The Steelers defense was to become one of the best defensive ranks in NFL history over the next few years, with players like Jack Lambert , Mel Blount and Joe Greene . After Ham and his team were able to move into the play-offs in 1972 and 1973 , but did not receive championship honors, the first major success came in 1974. The Steelers had the AFC Championship Game by John Madden supervised Oakland Raiders defeated with 24:13 and were therefore in the Super Bowl IX confiscated. Ham had contributed significantly to the victory of his team. He was able to intercept two passes from quarterback Ken Stabler in the game . Ham and his team then won the Super Bowl against the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 . Ham celebrated his first Super Bowl win with the win. The following year Ham succeeded in defending the title with the team from Pittsburgh . In the AFC Championship Game the Raiders were defeated again, this time with 16:10. Opponents in the subsequent Super Bowl X were the Dallas Cowboys trained by Tom Landry , who had to admit defeat to the Steelers with 17:21.
In the years that followed, the Steelers remained a top team in the NFL. In 1978 Jack Ham won his third Super Bowl. The Steelers had to deal with the Houston Oilers in the AFC Championship Game , but they had no chance against Ham's team in their 5-34 defeat. Ham was able to score an interception in the game . His team met the Cowboys again in Super Bowl XIII . The defense to Ham managed to keep the quarterback of the team from Dallas Roger Staubach under control until the middle of the fourth quarter of the game. The Steelers were leading 35:17 by then and already looked like the sure winner. However, Staubach was able to throw two touchdown passes within a very short time, which ultimately did not change anything about the 31:35 defeat of his team. In 1979 Jack Ham celebrated the fourth Super Bowl success. In the AFC championship game he met his team again on the Oilers, who had to leave the field with a 27:13 defeat. The Los Angeles Rams were the contestants in Super Bowl XIV this time . Ham caught another interception in an important game in his Steelers' 31:19 win and won his fourth Super Bowl.
Jack Ham ended his career after the 1982 season after 162 games in the NFL.
Off the field
Ham is married and now lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh. After his career, he worked in the coal industry and was active as a radio host and football game analyst.
Honors
Jack Ham played eight times in the Pro Bowl , the final game of the best players of the season. He was voted All-Pro nine times . He is a member of the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team , the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team , the Pro Football Hall of Fame , the College Football Hall of Fame, and the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame . In 1999, The Sporting News magazine named him 47th on the list of the 100 best football players of all time.
Web links
- Jack Ham in the nndb (English)
- Short biography ( memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- Jack Ham in college
- Jack Ham in the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame
literature
- Ken Rappaport: Penn State Nittany Lions. Where Have You Gone? Sports Publishing LLC, Champaign IL 2005, ISBN 1-58261-893-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annual Statistics of the Steelers 1974
- ↑ Statistics AFC final 1974
- ↑ Super Bowl IX statistics
- ^ Annual statistics of the Steelers 1975
- ↑ Statistics AFC Championship Game 1975
- ↑ Super Bowl X statistics
- ↑ Annual Statistics of the Steelers 1978
- ↑ Statistics AFC Championship Game 1978
- ↑ Super Bowl XIII Statistics
- ↑ Annual Statistics of the Steelers 1979
- ↑ Statistics AFC Championship Game 1979
- ↑ Statistics Super Bowl XIV
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ham, Jack |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ham, Jack Raphael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 23, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Johnstown , Pennsylvania |