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Walter William Anderson (July 13, 1936 – April 18, 2017) was an American football tight end in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Green Bay Packers. He played high school football at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida and college football at the University of Tennessee. He was drafted in the third round of the 1958 NFL draft.
![]() Anderson on a Fleer football card of 1961 | |||||||||||||
No. 42, 88 | |||||||||||||
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Position: | End, tight end | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born: | Hendersonville, North Carolina, U.S. | July 13, 1936||||||||||||
Died: | April 18, 2017 Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 80)||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
College: | Tennessee | ||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1958 / Round: 3 / Pick: 31 | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
Washington
editAnderson played for the Redskins from 1958 to 1963. He was selected by the team as Rookie of the Year in 1958 and Player of the Year in 1959. Bill made 178 catches, averaging 17.1 yards per catch, and scored 14 touchdowns over six seasons. Anderson was a two-time Pro Bowl selection (1959 and 1960).
Comeback with Green Bay
editAnderson retired from football in 1963 and joined the Tennessee staff as an assistant coach. However, he temporarily put his retirement plans on hold and signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1965. He played 24 games with Green Bay from 1965–1966 and averaged 11.9 yards per catch. The comeback was a good thing for him as the Packers won the 1965 and 1966 NFL Championships and he subsequently earned a Super Bowl ring when the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl I on January 15, 1967.
Broadcasting
editIn 1968, Anderson returned to Tennessee as color analyst for football games on the Vol Network, partnered with play-by-play announcer John Ward. Ward and Anderson would remain together for 31 years, the longest-running broadcast partnership in college football at the time. Their final game was the 1998 national championship game, the first game of the Bowl Championship Series, won by Tennessee over Florida State University.
Family
editAnderson is the second cousin of Giant Bomb staff member Brad Shoemaker.[1]
Death
editAnderson died on April 18, 2017, at a hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the age of 80.[2]
References
edit- ^ Dave Nillasca, UPF 09/06/2019
- ^ "Former NFL player, Tennessee broadcaster Bill Anderson dies". Associated Press. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
External links
edit- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference