Biography Of 1970 Heisman Trophy Winner Jim Plunkett

By Author: Cheyanne Cooke
Total Articles: 381
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James William Plunkett was born on the 5th of December in 1947 in San Jose, California. Plunkett is best known as Jim Plunkett. While Plunkett has had many ups and downs in his life, he was a very accomplished professional football player.

Plunkett has a Mexican American heritage and was born to parents in difficult situations. From a young age it was clear that Plunkett would be a stellar athlete. At the age of 14 Plunkett entered into a competition that measured who could throw the football farthest. While Plunkett was just 14 years old he managed to throw the ball for more than 60 yards in the air. This was just one small example of the player's athletic ability.

When Plunkett started playing football in high school he played both offense and defense. Offensively Plunkett served as the quarterback. On the defensive end of the football he played defensive end.

Football was definitely the most promising sport for Plunkett, but he loved to play many sports. While in high school he played not only football, but also basketball, baseball, track and wrestling. Plunkett was clearly a well rounded athlete.

He ...
... was not only well rounded, but also intelligent. Plunkett went on to play football at Stanford University. Stanford is a highly regarded school and its athletes are subject to the rigors of a tough reticulum.

While at Stanford things were not always easy for Plunkett. He started off his college career with thyroid issues. These issues forced an operation during his freshman year.

He was recruited as a quarterback, but his coaches at Stanford did not think that he had what it would take to be a starting quarterback for the team. Plunkett put in a lot of work in order to become a better quarterback. It is rumored that he threw 500 to 1000 passes each day to improve his talents.

After getting a chance to play he impressed his coaches with a huge performance. Despite having just 13 pass attempts he managed to throw for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns. This would be the game that would earn him a starting position for the rest of his college career.

His awesome play continued throughout his college career and he set several conference records en route to winning the 1970 Heisman Trophy.

Plunkett would enter the 1971 NFL Draft and was picked first overall by the New England Patriots. He was successful right from the start, winning the AFC Rookie of the Year award in his first season.

Things were not always easy for Plunkett. When he joined the Oakland Raiders in 1978 he was a reserve for the first two seasons. In 1980 he got the opportunity to start and was named the 1980 Comeback Player of the year after an amazing season. He managed to lead the Raiders to the Super Bowl as a wild card team. The Raiders were the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl in history.

Plunkett was not done there. Three seasons later Plunkett was back at it again and led the Raiders to another Super Bowl Championship. Plunkett retired from play in 1986 as a member of the Oakland Raiders.

AUTHOR:-
Cheyanne Cooke writes reviews on various sporting events including the sports betting websites. In this piece of write up, the author highlights one of the most popular sports CFB and college football betting. The author also refers popular online sportsbook.