86 Facts About Charlie Joiner

Charlie Joiner played 11 seasons with the San Diego Chargers, with whom he earned all three of his Pro Bowl selections, and was named first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in 1980.

Charlie Joiner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

Charlie Joiner played three and a half seasons each for the Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals, missing substantial time through injuries with both teams.

Charlie Joiner made the Pro Bowl in his first year with the team, but his role was reduced in the following two seasons, nearly leading him to retire as early as 1978.

Charlie Joiner's career was revitalised once head coach Don Coryell installed his Air Coryell passing offense.

Charlie Joiner had three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons from 1979 to 1981, making two further Pro Bowls and the 1980 All-Pro team.

Charlie Joiner retired with the most career receptions, receiving yards, and games played of any wide receiver in NFL history.

Charlie Joiner was noted for his precise route running, as well as his longevity and late-career success, with 586 of his 750 regular season catches coming after he joined the Chargers.

Charlie Joiner went on to serve as a wide receivers coach for twenty-six years before retiring completely after the 2012 season.

Charlie Joiner did not play football until his junior year, preferring baseball, but excelled as an all-state receiver while doubling as a defensive back.

Charlie Joiner scored 110 points as a senior, the most in the area.

Charlie Joiner played high school basketball and was a district champion javelin thrower.

Charlie Joiner continued to feature heavily in the passing game for the next two years, setting a Grambling record with 42 catches as a senior, going for 733 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Charlie Joiner scored two more touchdowns in his final college game, a victory in the 1968 Pasadena Bowl.

Charlie Joiner was a three-time first-team All-SWAC selection, and finished with 2,066 career receiving yards.

Charlie Joiner later credited Robinson as a great inspiration who pushed him to complete his college degree in accountancy.

In 2013, Charlie Joiner was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Charlie Joiner had another injury setback when he broke an arm in the first preseason game.

Charlie Joiner missed the first five regular season games before returning to face the San Diego Chargers, producing 5 catches for 100 yards and scoring his first professional touchdown on a 46-yard pass from Jerry Rhome.

Charlie Joiner scored twice in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals later in the season, one of those on a career-long 87-yard touchdown catch.

Charlie Joiner had been leading the Oilers in receptions with 16, covering 307 yards and 2 touchdowns; he had scored in his final game the day before the trade.

Charlie Joiner's progress was praised by offensive assistant coach Bill Walsh in the build-up to the 1973 season, with Walsh noting a particular improvement in accurate route running.

Charlie Joiner returned sooner than expected, missing six further games before beginning a consecutive appearance streak that would last for over 13 years.

Quarterback Ken Anderson praised Charlie Joiner's impact, saying that having both he and Curtis on the field stretched the opposing defense, who could not double cover both of them.

Charlie Joiner finished the season with 13 catches for 134 yards from his five appearances.

Charlie Joiner scored his first Bengals touchdown in week 5, a 65-yarder against Cleveland.

Charlie Joiner shared time with Chip Myers as Curtis' partner during the year.

Charlie Joiner was the most successful of the three as the season progressed, posting new career bests of 37 receptions for 726 yards, an average of 19.6 yards per catch.

Brown acknowledged that Charlie Joiner was coming off a good year, but identified the defensive line as a stronger area of need for his team.

Charlie Joiner was happy to reunite with Walsh, who had just joined the Chargers as their offensive coordinator.

Charlie Joiner has a knack for finding the open spot.

Charlie Joiner became the Chargers' leading receiver during a successful 1976 season with the team.

Charlie Joiner had a run of four consecutive 100-yard games early in the year, and secured his first 1,000-yard receiving season with two games to spare.

Charlie Joiner finished the year with 50 receptions for 1,056 yards while averaging 21.1 yards per catch, and was named second-team All-Pro by the Newspaper Enterprise Association at season's end.

The trade for Charlie Joiner benefited both teams in the short term, as both he and Bacon were named to the Pro Bowl and voted MVP by their respective teams that year.

Charlie Joiner gave some thought to retirement before committing to play the 1977 season.

Charlie Joiner was reunited with his Grambling quarterback James Harris on the field, as Fouts was holding out through much of the season.

Charlie Joiner was often double covered as newly acquired receiver Johnny Rodgers was injured, and their No 1 draft pick from the year before, running back Joe Washington, was recovering from knee issues.

Charlie Joiner finished with 35 catches, 542 yards and 6 touchdowns, short of his 1976 performance in each statistic but still enough to lead all Chargers wide receivers.

Charlie Joiner emphasized using running backs as possession receivers and rookie No 1 pick John Jefferson as the deep threat while phasing out Joiner, who had undergone offseason knee surgery.

Charlie Joiner informed head coach Tommy Prothro before the season that he was considering retirement, but Prothro was able to persuade him to continue.

Charlie Joiner struggled with post-surgery knee problems during the year and finished with 33 receptions, two fewer than in 1976 despite the regular season increasing from fourteen games to sixteen.

Charlie Joiner was forced back to the locker room twice during the game with injuries, but returned to the field bandaged both times.

Charlie Joiner sustained a concussion during the game and finished it with stitches over one eye, as well as hip and thigh injuries.

Charlie Joiner finished the game with 3 catches for 58 yards and the game-winning touchdown.

Charlie Joiner finished second in the AFC in receptions to Baltimore's Joe Washington, his former Chargers teammate, with a career-high 72 catches covering 1,008 yards and four touchdowns.

Charlie Joiner was named to the Pro Bowl, replacing an injured Lynn Swann, who himself was a replacement for Steve Largent.

Charlie Joiner finished the year with 71 receptions for 1,132 yards, and teamed with Jefferson and Winslow to become the first trio of receivers on a team to reach 1,000 yards in the same season.

In San Diego's opening game at Cleveland, Charlie Joiner caught 6 passes for 191 yards, which would be his best total with the Chargers.

Charlie Joiner's production decreased in the following weeks as opposing defenses double covered him, but the addition of Wes Chandler to replace Jefferson relieved that pressure.

Charlie Joiner finished with 70 catches, making him the first receiver with at least 70 catches in three consecutive NFL seasons.

Charlie Joiner caught 7 passes for 108 yards, including a 39-yard reception on the penultimate play of the game to set up Rolf Benirschke's game-winning 29-yard field goal.

Charlie Joiner had no touchdowns in the regular season, though he did produce three 100-yard games.

Charlie Joiner scored his only touchdown of the season during the Miami defeat.

Fouts did eventually sign, and Charlie Joiner was back for another season.

Charlie Joiner played the full season despite cracked ribs, he caught 65 passes for 960 yards and 3 touchdowns, and was voted both the most valuable and most inspirational Charger by his teammates.

Charlie Joiner entered the season needing 52 receptions to break Charley Taylor's NFL record of 649 for a career.

Charlie Joiner made little impact during the early part of the season, with only eight catches during the first four games; in week 4 against the Raiders he had no catches at all, ending a streak of 85 consecutive games with a catch.

Charlie Joiner improved enough to finish with 61 catches on the year.

Charlie Joiner expressed disappointment that the landmark had come in an away game, in a loss, and that Fouts had not thrown the record-breaking pass.

Charlie Joiner stated in training camp that he considered himself "on the bubble" as a player who might struggle to maintain a place in the team at the expense of younger receivers.

Charlie Joiner continued to play in every game, and passed Jackie Smith's record of 210 appearances at a receiving position early in the season.

Charlie Joiner finished the 1985 season with 59 catches for 932 yards, and tied his career high by scoring 7 touchdowns.

Charlie Joiner signed another one-year contract, and entered the 1986 season only 128 receiving yards behind Don Maynard's NFL record of 11,834 for a career.

Charlie Joiner turned 39 during the course of the season and was the second-oldest active player behind Jeff Van Note of the Atlanta Falcons, as well as the oldest wide receiver in league history.

Charlie Joiner was disappointed, but said that the younger receivers had practiced all week for the game and it would have been unfair to them if he had played.

Charlie Joiner finished the year with 34 catches, his least productive season since 1978, and retired from playing after the season.

Charlie Joiner caught 586 passes in 11 seasons with San Diego after totaling 164 in seven seasons with Houston and Cincinnati.

Charlie Joiner had 50 or more catches in seven seasons, five with 60 or more, and three with at least 70 with the Chargers.

Charlie Joiner retired as the then-NFL leader in career receptions and receiving yards.

At age 39, Charlie Joiner retired as the oldest wide receiver in NFL history.

Charlie Joiner excelled despite neither being among the quickest nor most talented receivers in the NFL.

Charlie Joiner had a tendency to fumble while with the Bengals, but fixed the problem and seldom fumbled while in San Diego.

Charlie Joiner rarely ran deep routes, specialising in running inside patterns and making tough catches in traffic.

Charlie Joiner became aware early in his time in San Diego that he no longer had the sprinting speed of his youth, and compensated with an improved knowledge of defenses brought on by experience.

Quiet and modest as an individual, Charlie Joiner was voted the Chargers' most inspirational player seven times by his teammates.

Whatever quarterback he's been with has known that Charlie Joiner will be there, every time.

Charlie Joiner was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Charlie Joiner was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996, becoming the third Grambling player to be selected.

Charlie Joiner was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Charlie Joiner was retained by the following head coach, Dan Henning, but Henning's entire coaching staff were dismissed following the 1991 season, ending Joiner's sixteen-year run with the team as a player and coach.

Charlie Joiner joined Marv Levy's Buffalo Bills shortly afterwards, again serving as a wide receiver coach, then moved on to take the same role with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001.

Charlie Joiner stayed with the Chiefs for seven seasons before losing his job with them in 2008; he re-joined the Chargers three weeks later for his final stint working with their receivers.

Charlie Joiner's retirement ended a 44-year professional career, eighteen as a player and twenty-six as a position coach.

Charlie Joiner has an accountancy degree from his time in college, and worked part time for Gulf Oil during the offseason for ten years.

Charlie Joiner was unusual in not employing a sports agent, as his knowledge of finance allowed him to manage his own contract negotiations.