Paul Maguire

Infobox Pro Football player


Color=Blue
fontcolor=Red
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1938|8|22|mf=y
Birthplace= Youngstown, Ohio
DateOfDeath=
College=The Citadel
Position=Punter
Linebacker
Jersey=55
AFLDraftedYear=1960
AFLDraftedRound=
Awards=
Honors=American Football League Champion, 1963, 1964, 1965
Records="'Most consecutive AFL Championships (3)
Stats=Y
Career Highlights=Y
Retired #s=
ProBowls=
years=1960-1963
1964-1970
teams=Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers
Buffalo Bills
DatabaseFootball=MAGUIPAU01
PFR=

Paul Leo Maguire (born August 22, 1938 in Youngstown, Ohio) is a former American football player and current television sportscaster.

Early sports career

Maguire attended Ursuline High School, then played tight end at The Citadel where he led the nation in touchdown receptions in 1959.

Professional football career

In 1960, he was selected as an original American Football League Los Angeles Charger, where he served as both a punter and linebacker. He moved with the team to San Diego in 1961, and stayed there until 1964 when he joined the Buffalo Bills. Maguire was an ace at the "coffin corner" punt. He contributed to three Bills' Eastern Division titles, and their AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. He was involved in one of the most spectacular plays in Bills' history in the 1965 American Football League Championship game against the Chargers. Butch Byrd took a John Hadl punt and with outstanding blocking, took it 74 yards for a TD. The last two blocks were by Maguire, crushing two Chargers.

Maguire played in six of the ten American Football League Championship Games — three with the Chargers and three with the Bills, winning four AFL Championship rings, and he was the league's all-time punter in punts and yardage. He was one of only twenty players who were in the AFL for its entire ten-year existence. After his retirement he was inducted into the Youngstown, Ohio Sports Hall of Fame, and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Media career

Beginning in the 1970s, Maguire worked as a color commentator on network NFL telecasts, first with NBC and then ESPN. He also called ESPN's telecasts of college football, the Canadian Football League and the now-defunct USFL. In 1998, he began a long tenure in the booth of "Sunday Night Football".

Maguire, who had a residence in Buffalo after his playing days, hosted a locally produced call-in show called the "Budweiser Sportsline". Later the program was broadcast on the Empire Sports Network.

Maguire worked his last NFL game on January 1, 2006, as "Sunday Night Football" ended on ESPN. However, Maguire was retained by ESPN to serve as a commentator for ABC's college football with Brad Nessler, former Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese, and field reporter Bonnie Bernstein.

In March 2007, Maguire began to serve as an in-studio analyst for ESPN's NFL Live.

See also

* Other American Football League players

External links

* [http://www.remembertheafl.com/1965ToppsBills.htm#PaulMaguire Maguire's 1965 Topps football card]