Steve Fuller
From ClemsonWiki
Steve Fuller (b. January 5, 1957) # 4, was a quarterback for the Tigers from 1975-1978. Fuller was selected 23rd overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1st round of the 1979 NFL Draft.
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[edit] Honors
- 1974 - Selected to the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas as a high school senior, later added to the Shrine Bowl Wall of Fame
- 1977 - 1st team Academic All-American
- 1978 - 1st Team Academic All-American
- 1978 - ACC Player of The Year
- 1978 - 3rd Team All-American
- 1978 - Honored as only 1 of 11 scholar athletes by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame
- 1978 - Gator Bowl MVP
- 1979 - Selected to the Senior Bowl
- Selected as only 1 of 5 student athletes in the nation as an NCAA Top Five Award winner.
- At the time of his graduation, Fuller has the 2nd best pass interception avoidance percentage (3.33%) in NCAA history.
- Awarded both NCAA and Jim Weaver post graduate scholarships from the ACC
- 1985 - Inducted into Clemson Hall of Fame
- 1986 - Selected to Clemson Centennial Team
- 1994 - On September 3rd, Fuller was selected along with Frank Howard and Banks McFadden as the original members of the Clemson Ring of Honor
- Selected to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Team
- Selected as the 33rd greatest sports figure in the state of South Carolina by CNNSI
- Only second Clemson athlete in history to have his number retired
[edit] The Catch
With :49 seconds left in the fourth quarter of the Clemson vs. South Carolina Gamecocks game on October 19, 1977, Fuller throws a spectacular pass to Jerry Butler in the endzone to lift Clemson to a 31-27 win. The Catch is rated # 65 on the CollegeFootballNews.com's 100 Greatest Finishes.
[edit] NFL Career
Fuller was the understudy to Jim McMahon on the 1985 Super Champion Chicago Bears
1979 Kansas City Chiefs 1980 Kansas City Chiefs 1981 Kansas City Chiefs 1982 Kansas City Chiefs 1983 St. Louis Rams 1984 Chicago Bears 1985 Chicago Bears 1986 Chicago Bears 1988 San Diego Chargers
[edit] Trivia
- Fuller made the Deans List 6 consecutive semesters at Clemson.
- Fuller finished 6th in the 1978 Heisman vote (Billy Sims of the University of Oklahoma won).
- From 1979 until Charlie Whitehurst was selected by the San Diego Chargers (round 3, pick 17, 81st overall) in 2006, Fuller was the only Clemson quarterback to be selected in the NFL Draft.
- Fuller was the last former Clemson quarterback to be on an NFL roster as a quarterback. The year was 1988 and ironically he was with the San Diego Chargers (same team Charlie Whitehurst was drafted by in 2006). Fuller was on the active roster but did not play in a single game that year.
- As of the end of the 2005 NFL season, Fuller is the last Clemson quarterback to throw a pass from the quarterback position in an NFL game (1986).
- As Clemson's quarterback, Fuller had a bad habit of rolling out of the pocket while looking for a receiver, with the ball held unprotected away from his body in his throwing hand - just waiting to be popped loose in a hit. Fortunately, he was quick enough that he usually got the pass away, but fans cringed when he did that...
