36 Facts About John Hadl

1.

John Willard Hadl was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the American Football League and National Football League for 16 years.

2.

John Hadl won an AFL championship with the San Diego Chargers in 1963.

3.

John Hadl was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame.

4.

John Hadl played in three AFL title games with San Diego before the league's merger with the NFL.

5.

John Hadl finished his career with the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and Houston Oilers.

6.

John Hadl was born in Lawrence, Kansas, to Jess and Judy John Hadl.

7.

John Hadl attended Lawrence High School, where he was an all-state halfback.

8.

John Hadl enrolled at the University of Kansas, where he played for his hometown Jayhawks.

9.

John Hadl was an All-American at halfback in 1960 and at quarterback in 1961.

10.

John Hadl was the first Kansas player to be picked twice for All-America honors.

11.

John Hadl excelled as a defensive back, punt returner, and punter; he led the country with a 45.6-yard punting average in 1959.

12.

John Hadl was picked for the all-conference team for three seasons, and wound up with 1,345 yards passing and 1,041 yards rushing.

13.

John Hadl still holds two Kansas records: longest interception return, a 98-yard run against TCU and longest punt, 94 yards versus Oklahoma.

14.

John Hadl joined the American Football League's San Diego Chargers in 1962, having decided to play with them over the Detroit Lions.

15.

John Hadl played in each game of his first season, although his use was more often in the second half than the first despite starting ten of fourteen games.

16.

John Hadl won just one of his nine starts, doing so in a 11-of-24 effort for 161 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception game versus Oakland on December 2,1962.

17.

John Hadl made two punts for the Chargers, kicking two of them for 75 yards.

18.

John Hadl's punting duties increased, as he punted 62 times for 2,447 yards, with one of the kicks going 71 yards.

19.

John Hadl made his third and final appearance in the AFL Championship Game that year.

20.

John Hadl made punts for the second and last regular time, punting 38 times for 1,544 yards.

21.

John Hadl began a streak during the fifth game of the season.

22.

John Hadl improved further in 1968, leading the league in completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns, and interceptions while having a 47.3 completion percentage and an All-Star selection.

23.

John Hadl passed for 2,253 yards with ten touchdowns and eleven interceptions for a 48.8 completion percentage, and Hadl was named an AFL All-Star .

24.

John Hadl quarterbacked the team for the first three of those seasons.

25.

John Hadl became the second quarterback in history to lead two different leagues in passing yards, and it was third time in six years that he had led in passing.

26.

John Hadl was named the National Football Conference Player of the Year by United Press International and selected to the Pro Bowl that season.

27.

John Hadl then moved to the Houston Oilers for the next season, mostly in mop up duty for Dan Pastorini.

28.

John Hadl started six games combined in two seasons and won just once while throwing seven total touchdowns to eleven interceptions for 710 yards.

29.

At the time of his retirement, John Hadl was sixth all time in wins at the quarterback position with 82.

30.

John Hadl holds the NFL record for the most tied games by a starting quarterback.

31.

John Hadl wore No 21 for nearly his entire NFL career, aside from his first season with Green Bay when he briefly wore No 12.

32.

John Hadl was the last regular starting quarterback to wear a uniform number greater than No 19 before the NFL adopted a rigid uniform numbering system in 1973.

33.

John Hadl was still on the top ten of most touchdowns thrown by a quarterback as late as 1999, with him and two others in that list not being members of the Hall of Fame, as his former peak of fifth has receded to 26 with the advent of increased passing in subsequent years.

34.

John Hadl was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1983.

35.

John Hadl consistently denied any wrongdoing and his tenure with Kansas athletics hasn't yielded any suggestion of rules violations.

36.

John Hadl ended his career as associate athletic director at the University of Kansas.