Chuck Foreman
| No. 44 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Running back | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | October 26, 1950 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Frederick, Maryland | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Frederick (MD) | ||||||||
| College: | Miami (FL) | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1973 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Rushing yards: | 5,950 |
|---|---|
| Average: | 3.8 |
| Touchdowns: | 53 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Walter Eugene "Chuck" Foreman (born October 26, 1950) is a retired American football player. He was a running back during his National Football League career, and often caught passes out of the backfield. He played college football at the University of Miami.
Foreman was a standout athlete in football, basketball and track at Frederick High School in Frederick, Maryland. His ability in football to catch passes out of the backfield was evident throughout his years on varsity at Frederick High School. He played center on Frederick High's outstanding basketball team, which narrowly missed the state title his senior year.
Foreman attended the University of Miami, where he played defensive back, wide receiver and running back.
The Minnesota Vikings first round draft choice in 1973, Chuck Foreman was selected with the 12th overall pick in the draft. His pass-catching ability out of the backfield, combined with the ability to make the first tackler miss, was a key in the Minnesota Viking offense, which was sort of a precursor of the West Coast Offense which became popular in the following decades. Chuck is widely known as "The Spin Doctor" for his elusive way of avoiding would-be tacklers.
He was a consensus choice as the National Football Conference (NFC) Rookie of the Year in 1973, when he rushed for 801 yards on 182 attempts and caught 37 passes for 362 yards.
Foreman was named NFC player of the year by The Sporting News in 1974 and by UPI in 1976. He was named All-Pro in 1975 and played in five consecutive Pro Bowls (1973–1977). Foreman had 3 straight seasons rushing for 1,000+ yards (1975–1977) and scored a then NFC record 22 touchdowns in 14 games during the 1975 campaign.
Foreman just missed a rare NFC 'Triple Crown' (rushing yards, receptions & TDs) in 1975. The last regular season game was a nationally televised contest during a classic Buffalo, NY snowstorm. A hostile crowd supported hometown hero O.J. Simpson, who moved in front of Foreman and tied Gale Sayers' NFL record with his 22nd TD of the season in the first half. Late in the 3rd quarter, Foreman was hit in the eye by a snowball while chasing a pass. He went out of the game for a couple of plays, then returned with blurred vision to catch a six-yard touchdown, tying Sayers and Simpson for the record. That was it, though; he spent the last quarter on the bench, and less than a minute later, Simpson scored on a 54-yard reception to surpass Sayers & Foreman. The next day, St. Louis' Jim Otis, playing only the first half, gained 69 yards on 14 carries to edge Foreman for conference rushing honors, 1,076 to 1,070. However, on the season Foreman scored a rushing and receiving touchdown in 5 games, which remains an NFL record. He also led the NFL in receptions with 73, at the time a record for receptions by a running back.
...
Wikipedia