Brian Dowling (American football)

NFL player


Name=Brian Dowling
Caption=
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1947|4|1|mf=y
Birthplace=
Position=Quarterback
College=Yale University
DraftedYear=1969
DraftedRound=11
PFR=DowlBr00
years=1969
1970-1973
1974-1975
1977
teams=Minnesota Vikings (camp)
New England Patriots
Charlotte Hornets (WFL)
Green Bay Packers
ProBowls=
HOF=

Brian John Dowling was the starting quarterback of the Yale University football team in the late 1960s. He set, and held for decades, a number of Yale passing records. Dowling finished 9th in vote for the 1968 Heisman Trophy, and was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award for sportsmanship in 1967.

The 1968 team was undefeated and heavily favored going into The Game against Harvard University, but after trailing 29–13 with less than a minute remaining, Harvard rallied to tie the game, which ended with a score of 29–29. In Cambridge the game is remembered as the greatest Ivy League game ever played,Fact|date=February 2007 inspiring the Harvard Crimson to print the headline "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29;" New Haveners, on the other hand continue to harbor some disappointment. Dowling at that point had not lost a game he started since the sixth grade, a streak he was able to preserve, technically, by virtue of the tie.

Dowling played briefly in the National Football League for the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, but cut in training camp. He had two touchdown passes over his three-year professional career.

The character B.D., in the Doonesbury comic strip, was originally based on Dowling, a Yale classmate of cartoonist Garry Trudeau. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102000446_3.html]

After his career ended, Dowling became a sportscaster. In 1986, he was the lead play by play announcer for PBS.

External links

* [http://www.nd.edu/~tmandell/harvard.html The story of The Game, 1968, by Ted Mandell.]
* [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=DOWLIBRI01 Dowling's professional statistics at databasefootball.com]
* [http://www.helmethut.com/WFL/Dowling.html Helmet worn as a Hornet in the WFL]
* [http://www.patriots.com/alumni/index.cfm?ac=alumnibiosdetail&bio=13808 Patriots Page]