Jack Scarbath
John Carl Scarbath (August 12, 1930 – December 6, 2020) was a professional American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
 Scarbath as a senior at Maryland | |||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | August 12, 1930 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | December 6, 2020 (aged 90) Rising Sun, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Maryland | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1953 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Early life
Scarbath was born in the Hamilton section of Baltimore, Maryland, on August 12, 1930 and attended high school at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.[1][2] He played football as a quarterback and basketball as a guard.[3] At Poly, Scarbath came to the attention of former Maryland coach and then university president Harry C. Byrd, who offered him a full athletic scholarship.[2]
College career
As a freshman at the University of Maryland, Scarbath poured cement as a construction worker in the building of the school's Byrd Stadium. He later worked at a foundry, which also helped to keep him in shape for football.[4]
The Maryland Terps compiled a 24-4-1 record with Scarbath as quarterback and defeated Tennessee in the 1951 Sugar Bowl.[1] In 1952, he was unanimously selected to the All-America first team and finished as the runner-up in votes for the Heisman Trophy.[2][5] Scarbath was also Southern Conference Player of the Year and the South's Most Valuable Player in the North–South Shrine Game.[2] He played lacrosse for Maryland during the 1952 season.[6] Scarbath graduated from Maryland in 1954 with an industrial engineering degree.[4]
Professional career
The Washington Redskins selected Scarbath in the first round of the 1953 NFL Draft as the third overall pick. He played with Washington from 1953 to 1954. In 1955, Scarbath played in the Canadian Football League for the Ottawa Rough Riders.[7] He returned to the NFL to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1956, his final season in the NFL.[1] After leaving the NFL, Scarbath served as an assistant coach for the University of South Carolina for the next five years.
Later life and awards
Scarbath founded and served as the chief executive officer of his own business, John C. Scarbath and Sons abrasives company, which he sold in 1995. He then worked with the Maryland Education Foundation to provide college scholarships to prospective scholar-athletes.
The College Football Hall of Fame inducted Scarbath in 1983,[2] and the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame inducted him in 1984.[8]
In retirement, Scarbath lived with his wife, Marilyn, a former Maryland cheerleader,[4] on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in Rising Sun, Maryland, where he became a skilled wood carver of waterfowl. His wife of 68 years died in October, 2020, and Scarbath died of heart failure on December 6, 2020, at 90 years of age. The couple is survived by their two sons.[1][9]
References
- Oyefusi, Daniel (December 7, 2020). "Jack Scarbath, All-America quarterback at Maryland and 1952 Heisman Trophy runner-up, dies at 90". The Baltimore Sun.(subscription required)
- "Jack Scarbath". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- Poly Opens Basketball Season With 54-35 Victory Over Loyola Quint; BILL PHILLIPS PACES VICTORS Tallies 15 Points Against Private School Rival, The Baltimore Sun, December 8, 1948.
- Jessica Bizik, Good Sports Then and Now; Idol Time: Jack Scarbath '54 Archived 2013-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, College Park Online, University of Maryland, Summer 1997, retrieved May 28, 2010.
- "The Winning Margin: Year By Year". Heisman.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- 2009 Maryland Men's Lacrosse Guide, p. 64, University of Maryland, 2009.
- Ottawa All-Time Roster, CFLapedia, retrieved May 28, 2010.
- University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame: All-Time Inductees Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, University of Maryland, retrieved June 12, 2009.
- Graham, Glenn (December 8, 2020). "Jack Scarbath, Maryland football great and Poly graduate remembered for being 'nicer than life,' dies". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 8, 2020.