- Todd Blackledge
Infobox NFLretired
|caption=
width=
position=Quarterback
number=14
birthdate=birth date and age|1961|2|25Canton, Ohio
deathdate=
debutyear=1983
finalyear=1989
draftyear=1983
draftround=1
draftpick=7
college=Penn State
teams=
*Kansas City Chiefs (1983-1987)
*Pittsburgh Steelers (1988-1989)
stat1label=TD-INT
stat1value=29-38
stat2label=Yards
stat2value=5,286
stat3label=QB Rating
stat3value=60.2
nfl=BLA224939
highlights=
*Davey O'Brien Award (1982)
HOF=Todd Alan Blackledge (
February 25 ,1961 inCanton, Ohio ) is a formerAmerican football quarterback in theNational Football League . He played for theKansas City Chiefs (1983-1987) and thePittsburgh Steelers (1988-1989).College career
Blackledge was a three-year starter at Penn State, where he guided the Nittany Lions to 31-5 record including a national championship in 1982. Following the 1982 season, he won the
Davey O'Brien Award for best quarterback in the nation.Professional career
Blackledge was selected in the first round of the
1983 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for five seasons (1983-1987) before ending his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1988-1989). Blackledge's NFL career was decidedly less successful than his college experience, a fact magnified by the impressive quarterback class in the 1983 NFL Draft, including legendary signal-callers such asJohn Elway ,Dan Marino andJim Kelly . Blackledge is widely regarded as the Chiefs' biggest draft bust along withTrezelle Jenkins . It was the failure of Blackledge that expedited the demotion of Chiefs PresidentJack Steadman , to be replaced byCarl Peterson , first as General Manager, then President and Supreme Ruler.After football
Blackledge went on to host radio sports talk shows in
Cleveland (WKNR ) and Canton, Ohio (WHBC). He also did analyst work for the Big East Network,Indianapolis Colts preseason games, andESPN .From 1994-1998, he worked as a college football analyst for
ABC Sports . In 1999, Blackledge joinedCBS Sports as the lead analyst for the network's college football coverage. In 2006, he began serving on the first team alongsideMike Patrick for "ESPN College Football Primetime" onESPN .Personal
Blackledge lives in Canton with his wife, Cherie, and their four children.
Blackledge earned a
Bachelor of Arts in speech communication from Penn State in 1983, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a 3.8grade point average . Named a first team AcademicAll-America n, he was also awarded the Eric Walker Award, given to the Penn State senior student who has most “enhanced the esteem and recognition of the University.” Blackledge was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 1997. He sits on the Board of Visitors for Penn State’s Center for Sports Journalism.cite web | url = http://live.psu.edu/story/27400?nw=1 | title = Blackledge to receive prestigious NCAA Silver Anniversary Award | publisher = Penn State Department of Sports Information | accessdate 2007-11-21 | date 2007-11-21]Blackledge was selected to receive the prestigious 2008 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, recognizing former student-athletes who excelled both in their collegiate and professional careers.
In April 2008, Blackledge and seven other former NFL players traveled to the
Middle East to visit with troops and coach them in the USO's "Operation Gridiron: Huddle with the Troops", aflag football tournament for service personnel serving overseas.cite web | url = http://live.psu.edu/story/29846 | title = Former Penn State football players on USO tour to Middle East | publisher = The Pennsylvania State University Department of Public Information | date = 2008-03-31 | accessdate = 2008-03-31]References
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