Anthony Muñoz

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Anthony Muñoz

Date of birth	August 19, 1958
Place of birth	Ontario, California
Position(s)	Offensive Tackle
College	Southern California
NFL Draft	1980 / Round 1/ Pick 3
Pro Bowls	11
Honors	NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1980-1992	Cincinnati Bengals
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1998

Michael Anthony Muñoz (born August 19, 1958 in Ontario, California), is a former offensive tackle for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals.

1 Early life
2 College Career
3 Professional Career
4 Personal
5 External links

[edit] Early life

Muñoz grew up with sports, playing basketball, baseball, and football for Chaffey High School.

[edit] College Career

He earned a scholarship to USC, where he earned a degree at what is now the Marshall School of Business. He was a two time All-American and helped running back Charles White win the Heisman Trophy in 1979.

[edit] Professional Career

He was selected by the Bengals in the first round of the 1980 NFL draft (the third pick overall), despite missing much of his senior season at the University of Southern California due to knee injuries. Muñoz's selection was viewed by many as a risk, but he became a starter in his rookie season and was a fixture at left tackle for thirteen seasons, and even caught 7 passes for 18 yards and 4 touchdowns on tackle-eligible plays. At 6'-6" and 280 pounds, Muñoz was extremely agile and excelled at both pass-blocking and run-blocking. His blocking was a big reason for the Bengals emergence as an elite team in the 1980's, and assisted them to 2 Super Bowl appearances; Super Bowl XVI and Super Bowl XXIII.

Considered by many peers and fans alike to be one of the finest offensive tackles ever, Anthony Muñoz was a perennial Pro Bowl selection, a three-time Offensive Lineman of the Year (1981, 1987, and 1988), and was named to the pro bowl 11 consecutive times(1981-1991). In 1994, Muñoz was named to the National Football League's 75th anniversary all-time team. In 1999, he was ranked number 17 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranked offensive lineman.

In 1998, Anthony Muñoz was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was the first Cincinnati player to be enshrined after playing his entire career for the Bengals. Shortly after receiving the honor, Muñoz's hometown of Ontario renamed its Colony Park "Anthony Muñoz Hall of Fame Park". The renaming ceremony was held on June 26, 1998, and was attended by Muñoz, his family, and city officials, and Ontario residents.[1] The park, incidentally, is the place where Muñoz met his wife DeDe after a pickup softball game during his youth.

In 2004, Muñoz served on a panel to select the year's Walter Payton Man of the Year.

[edit] Personal

He is the father of Michael Muñoz, a standout offensive lineman who played for the University of Tennessee. It was believed that Michael Muñoz would follow his father's footsteps to the National Football League in 2004, but ten operations over as many years made professional teams shy away from him. After graduating with a degree in political science, the younger Muñoz, who is also director of development for his father's charity, the Muñoz Foundation, entered the political arena and was elected to the office of trustee in Hamilton Township.

Anthony Muñoz lives near Cincinnati and continues to work in the community and can be heard locally in radio advertisements for a local furniture chain, Furniture Fair.