Rocky Thompson (American football)
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| Position: | Running back | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | November 8, 1947 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Bermuda | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | West Texas State | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1971 / Round: 1 / Pick: 18 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Ralph Gary "Rocky" Symonds-Thompson (born November 8, 1947) is a former American football player for the New York Giants in the National Football League.
Thompson, a running back/wide receiver, played college football at Hartnell Community College and West Texas State, where he was the roommate of future Dallas Cowboys star Duane Thomas. Thompson was a world-class sprinter who won the British Athletics Championships 100 metres in 1970 with a time of 10.1 seconds.[1] Representing Bermuda, he reached the final of the 100 metres at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games, finishing sixth.
The Giants drafted Thompson in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft with the 18th overall selection. He appeared in all 28 regular-season games for the Giants in 1971 and 1972, primarily as a kickoff returner, but his NFL career went sour, only scoring three touchdowns in his career.[2] The Giants released Thompson before the start of the 1974 season.[3] Deadspin ranked Thompson as the 7th worst NFL player of all time noting "Shortly after Thompson was selected in the first round of the 1971 draft out of West Texas State, The New York Times reported that Rocky Thompson … is listed in Bermuda and in official Brit track records as Ralph Gary Symonds. Sadly, neither Rocky nor Ralph could muster more than three career touchdowns."[4]
References
- ↑ Leonard Koppett, "Thompson, Runner from West Texas, is Webster's Pick", New York Times, January 29, 1971 (subscription required)
- ↑ Rocky Thompson statistics at databasefootball.com Archived 2010-02-12 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Giants cut Randy Johnson, Evans and Thompson", New York Times, Sept. 11, 1974
- ↑ The Bottom 100: The Worst Players in NFL History. Deadspin. Retrieved August 14, 2014.