Harrah's Broadcast Award

Joe Theismann, ESPN Analyst

Joe Theismann knows football.  He was the winning quarterback in Super Bowl XVII, a two-time Pro Bowl player and the most productive quarterback in the history of the Washington Redskins.  Since his retirement as a player, he has built a national reputation as an expert analyst on the game for ESPN.  He joined ESPN in 1988 as a color analyst of all Sunday night nationally televised NFL games. 

As a player, Mr. Theismann played in 163 consecutive games for the Redskins and heads the team’s list of quarterbacks with a total of 25,206 yards passing, 2,044 completions and 3,331 attempts.  He left the Redskins due to a badly broken leg sustained midway through the 1985 NFL season. 

His 12-year NFL career was highlighted by many outstanding performances, especially his leadership of the Redskins to a 27-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII.  In 1982, he was named the winner of the 24th Annual Bert Bell Award as the Maxwell Football Club Professional Player of the Year.  Also in 1982, he was honored as NFL’s Man of the Year for his work in community service.  In 1983, he was voted as Most Valuable Player of the NFL as well as Most Valuable Player of the Pro Bowl. 

Mr. Theismann was drafted by the Miami Dolphins and Major League’s Baseball’s Minnesota Twins in 1971, but elected to play for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.  The Redskins acquired him in 1974 and he spent his first two years with the Redskins as a punt returner.  He became the Redskins starting quarterback in 1978. 

The native of South River, New Jersey is a 1971 graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he won All-American honors on the field as well as in the classroom (sociology major).  He led the Fighting Irish to back-to-back Cotton Bowls and was runner-up to Jim Plunkett in the Heismann Trophy balloting in his senior year. 

In May 1990, he was inducted into the GTE Academic All-American Hall of Fame and joins such luminaries as Representative Tom McMillen, and General Pat Dawkins.  Mr. Theismann lends a great amount of time to a long list of charitable causes, many of which are concerned with the health and welfare of children.  He is a member of the St. Jude’s Research Hospital charities.  His depth of understanding stress management and his understanding of teamwork and dedication to the job have made him one of the nation’s foremost motivational lecturers.  Mr. Theismann’s book The Idiots Guide to Understanding Football like a Pro is a layman’s guide to understanding the intricacies of the game and was published in July 1997.  The second edition was published in June 2001.  Mr. Theismann was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, class of 2003.