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Frank Tripucka

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Frank Tripucka
refer to caption
Tripucka c. 1948–52
No. 28, 8, 11, 18
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born:(1927-12-08)December 8, 1927
Bloomfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Died:September 12, 2013(2013-09-12) (aged 85)
Woodland Park, New Jersey, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:192 lb (87 kg)
Career information
High school:Bloomfield
College:Notre Dame
NFL draft:1949 / round: 1 / pick: 9
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Passing attempts:1,745
Passing completions:879
Completion percentage:50.4%
TD–INT:69–124
Passing yards:10,282
Passer rating:52.2
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Francis Joseph Tripucka[1] (December 8, 1927 – September 12, 2013) was an American football quarterback who played professionally for 15 seasons. He spent four seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and four in American Football League (AFL).[b] Tripucka achieved his greatest success as the inaugural quarterback for the AFL's Denver Broncos, who he was a member of from 1960 to 1963. During Denver's inaugural year, Tripucka became the first NFL / AFL quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. He received All-Star honors when leading the league in yards in 1962. He was inducted to the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1986. Tripucka has the lowest career Passer Rating in NFL history, minimum 1500 passing attempts, with a career rating of 52.2.

College career

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The 6–2, 172-pound Tripucka was a three-time letter-winner at Notre Dame. His first two seasons, he played backup quarterback to Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack on unbeaten Notre Dame squads in 1946 and 1947. As a freshman backup in 1945, he completed his only pass for 19 yards, and carried twice for eight yards. In 1946, as a sophomore, he hit one of his five throws for 19 yards in relief on the national championship squad. He took approximately 1/4 of Frank Leahy's 1947 squad's pass attempts, connecting on 25 of 44 throws for 422 yards, three TDs, and one interception and a remarkable passer rating of 155.3, and helping the Irish to a second consecutive national championship. With Lujack's graduation, Tripucka became the undisputed starter his senior year. He completed 53 of 91 for 660 yards and a school-record 11 touchdowns, en route to a 9-0-1 record and the Irish's 3rd consecutive season without a loss. A tie against USC in the final game bumped them down to No. 2 behind undefeated Michigan. He played in the college All-Star Game that year.[2]

Professional career

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Tripucka on a 1950 Bowman football card

Tripucka went on to become a first-round selection (ninth overall pick) by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1949 NFL draft, but was traded during the preseason to the Detroit Lions. He had four starts his rookie season, compiling a mediocre 9 touchdowns to 14 interceptions; he was also used as a punter 28 times. In 1950, he played for the Chicago Cardinals, where he had four passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in relief of Jim Hardy, including a 65 and an 81-yard touchdown pass in game 5 against Washington.[3] In 1951, he had just 29 attempts in 1 start for the Cardinals, and only 12 attempts in six games in 1952 before being traded to the Dallas Texans mid-season. There, he started all six games, but had just 3 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, and a 1–5 record. The Dallas Texans folded after one season, so Tripucka accepted a large contract for the time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Tripucka then took a seven-year run in the CFL. He joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders and their new coach Frank Filchock as the starting quarterback in 1953. He played there through 1958, when he was traded to the Ottawa Rough Riders but struggled and was released. He was back in Saskatchewan before the end of the 1959 season as a coach. Non-Canadians playing Canadian professional football were known as imports, and each team was limited to 12. These spots were filled, so Coach Tripucka was ineligible to play. However, in the fourteenth game of the season, all three Roughrider quarterbacks were sidelined by injuries. For the last two games, management decided to play Tripucka anyway, and forfeit in advance. The Roughriders lost the first of them on the scoreboard as well, 20-19 versus the Edmonton Eskimos. But in the last game of the season against Bud Grant's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Tripucka had 17 completions in 29 passes and Ferdy Burket ran for five touchdowns. Officially, the final score was Saskatchewan 37, Winnipeg 30 for a Winnipeg "victory".[4]

After getting fired by Saskatchewan, Tripucka came out of retirement with the American Football League (AFL) as the starting quarterback for the new Denver Broncos franchise. The Broncos had hired Filchock as their coach, and he initially brought Tripucka along as an assistant. He started all 14 games in Denver's inaugural 1960 season, and though he led the league in interceptions in 1960 with 34 (still a Broncos franchise record), he also led the league with 248 of 478 passes for 3,038 yards (the first 3000+ yard season by either an NFL or AFL quarterback), to go with 24 touchdowns, including the first TD pass in AFL history.[5] He started 11 games in 1961, throwing for 1,690 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions. In 1962, he again led the league with 240 completions, 440 attempts, and 2,917 yards. This included a week 2 victory over Buffalo, in which Tripucka threw for a remarkable 447 yards, a franchise record that stood for 38 years.[6][7] On the season, he totaled 17 touchdowns and 25 interceptions, and was selected for the AFL's All Star game for the only time in his career. In his last season, Tripucka had just 7 completions for 31 yards in two games. He returned to Saskatchewan in his final season to be the back up to Ron Lancaster and finished the season with 38 completions for 435 yards.

Tripucka retired in 1963 after 15 professional seasons. The Broncos subsequently retired his #18 jersey. In 1986, Tripucka was one of three players to be inducted into the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame. On March 9, 2012, Tripucka stated that he would allow #18 to be worn again by Peyton Manning if the Broncos were to sign him. On March 20, 2012, at a press conference announcing his signing by the Broncos, John Elway thanked Tripucka "for allowing the franchise to ‘borrow’ the number for Manning."[8] On March 7, 2016, the #18 jersey returned to retirement when Manning announced that he was retiring after 18 professional seasons (4 seasons with the Broncos).[9]

Football career statistics

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Legend
Bold Career high
Underline Incomplete data

NFL/AFL

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Year Team Games Passing Rushing Punting
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Att Yds Avg Lng TD Pnt Yds Avg Lng
1949 DET 6 4 — 62 145 42.8 833 5.7 9 14 12 36 3.0 18 1 28 1,074 38.4 50
1950 CC 10 4 2-2-0 47 108 43.5 720 6.7 4 7 4 35 8.8 21 1 — — — —
1951 CC 3 1 1-0-0 17 29 58.6 244 8.4 2 1 1 14 14.0 14 0 11 429 39.0 56
1952 CC 6 1 0-1-0 5 12 41.7 40 3.3 0 0 1 -3 -3.0 -3 0 31 1,155 37.3 65
DT 6 6 1-5-0 86 174 49.4 769 4.4 3 17 9 28 3.1 15 3 4 167 41.8 65
1960 DEN 14 14 4-9-1 248 478 51.9 3,038 6.4 24 34 10 0 0.0 0 0 — — — —
1961 DEN 14 11 3-8-0 167 344 48.5 1,690 4.9 10 21 4 -8 -2.0 — 0 — — — —
1962 DEN 14 13 6-7-0 240 440 54.5 2,917 6.6 17 25 2 -1 -0.5 1 1 — — — —
1963 DEN 2 2 0-2-0 7 15 46.7 31 2.1 0 5 — — — — — — — — —
Career 75 56 17-34-1 879 1,745 50.4 10,282 5.9 69 124 43 101 2.3 21 6 74 2,825 38.2 65

CFL

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Year Team Games Passing Rushing Punting
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Att Yds Avg Lng TD Pnt Yds Avg Lng
1953 SASK 4 4 — 59 94 62.8 703 7.5 4 5 5 -77 -15.4 0 0 31 1,463 47.2 76
1954 SASK 14 — — 152 259 58.7 2,003 7.7 14 14 25 -125 -5.0 3 1 16 686 42.9 55
1955 SASK 16 16 10-6-0 158 257 61.5 2,306 9.0 11 17 36 -155 -4.3 8 0 7 242 34.6 58
1956 SASK 16 16 10-6-0 216 383 56.4 3,274 8.5 18 22 31 -138 -4.5 9 1 — — — —
1957 SASK 16 16 3-12-1 172 343 50.1 2,589 7.5 12 29 29 -95 -3.3 9 3 — — — —
1958 SASK 13 — — 189 338 55.9 2,766 8.2 20 27 26 -58 -2.2 9 0 19 936 49.3 80
1959 OTT 8 3 — 79 145 54.5 1,119 7.7 4 14 3 -3 -1.0 0 0 52 2,057 39.6 58
SASK 2 0 — 27 45 60.0 311 6.9 1 3 3 3 1.0 3 0 — — — —
1963 SASK 7 0 — 38 66 57.6 435 6.6 3 5 4 -8 -2.0 2 0 4 185 46.2 651
Career 89 55 23-24-1 1,090 1,930 56.5 15,506 8.0 87 136 162 -656 -4.0 9 5 129 5,569 43.2 80

Personal life

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Tripucka is the father of former Notre Dame and Detroit Pistons basketball star Kelly Tripucka, who also played for the Utah Jazz and the Charlotte Hornets.[5] All six sons played Division I sports (his daughter Heather was also a very good athlete). The oldest boy, Tracy, played basketball at Lafayette College and then professionally in Switzerland. Mark was a quarterback at the University of Massachusetts. Todd also played basketball at Lafayette College and broke many of his older brother Tracy's records. T.K., the tallest of the Tripucka boys at 6'9", played basketball at Fordham University. He also played one season under his brother Tracy, who took over as the Fordham head coach. On one unique night, Fordham played Notre Dame at Madison Square Garden, so T.K. played against his Notre Dame freshman brother Kelly, with oldest brother Tracy coaching Fordham. Kelly was an All-American at Notre Dame and then had an excellent 10-year career in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, and Charlotte Hornets. Kelly was a two-time NBA All-Star. Chris, the youngest of the family, played quarterback, wide receiver, and kicker at Boston College, all with Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie.

Tripucka is also the grandfather of current NFL punter Shane Tripucka (Chris' son) and [10] former NFL long snapper Travis Tripucka,[11] and former professional lacrosse player Jake Tripucka[12] (both Kelly's sons). Shane played for the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2018 NFL preseason, averaging 45.5 yards per punt. He played for the XFL LA Wildcats in 2020. Shane was also a First-team All-American and All-SEC punter at Texas A&M where he set several punting records.

Tripucka died of congestive heart failure on September 12, 2013, at his home in Woodland Park, New Jersey, aged 85.[13]

Legacy

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In 1997, Tripucka was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.[1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Peyton Manning was permitted use of the number during his tenure with the Broncos by Tripucka.
  2. ^ Tripucka's final season in 1963 was split between the AFL and CFL.

References

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  1. ^ a b Profile Archived 2012-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, polishsportshof.com; accessed December 28, 2015.
  2. ^ "Former Notre Dame Quarterback Frank Tripucka Dies At Age 85". University of Notre Dame.
  3. ^ "Chicago Cardinals at Washington Redskins - October 22nd, 1950". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  4. ^ Braunwart, Bob; Carroll, Bob. "The Curious Case of the 13th Import" (PDF). Pro Football Research. The Coffin Corner, 1979.
  5. ^ a b Curley, Carolyne Volpe (September 14, 2013). "The Family of Frank Tripucka has Announced his Passing". TAPinto West Essex. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  6. ^ "Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  7. ^ Broken by Gus Frerotte on 19 Nov 2000. See List of Broncos players with 400 yards passing
  8. ^ "Manning Introduced as Broncos QB". Fox Sports. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  9. ^ "Peyton Manning retires from football after 18 NFL seasons". The Denver Post. March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  10. ^ Croome, Shane. "Aggie punter Shane Tripucka carrying on family tradition". The Eagle.
  11. ^ Constantino, Rocco (September 11, 2012). "New Raiders Long Snapper Travis Tripucka Brings a Familiar Name Back to the NFL". Bleacher Report.
  12. ^ Schwartz, Peter (April 20, 2016). "Son Of Former NBA Star Tripucka Joins New York Lizards".
  13. ^ Frankel, Jeff. "Funeral set for Broncos quarterback Tripucka, formerly of Bloomfield" Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Bloomfield Life, September 13, 2013; accessed September 15, 2013. "Funeral plans are set for Frank Tripucka, the Denver Broncos' first quarterback. He was a Bloomfield native.... Tripucka, 85, a 1945 Bloomfield High School graduate, died Thursday at his Woodland Park home. His son, Kelly Tripucka, a former Notre Dame basketball standout, said his father died of congestive heart failure."
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