That 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game would be Shorty White's 100th win at Banks, and his last. "You go through life carrying that (lesson): If you start it, you better try to be the best at it, and finish what you've got to finish," he adds. In the spring of 2007 Rutledge got his first NFL coaching job when he was hired as quarterbacks coach with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals,[5] with direct charge over Kurt Warner. His finest moment as a professional player came when as a member of the Redskins he came off the bench in a game versus the Detroit Lions in 1990. The next year, I was on injured reserve. On fourth down with a yard needed, he was sent by head coach Bill Parcells for a potential decoy play. "We were out there playing in the mud and the rain," Woodlawn's Ragland says. Now he is here and his family is there, and no one is happy. We felt like we were probably the two best teams in Alabama, but only one of us was going to get to go to the state. Tony Nathan holds his youngest brother, Cedric, after he announces in December 1974 that he will attend the University of Alabama. At the age of 32, starting his 11th season as a National Football League quarterback, Rutledge was not sure he would make the Giants. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember anything about it. "I said, 'If we win (the next game) and they win, we are both going to be undefeated when we play each other, and it's going to be the biggest high school crowd there ever will be,'" White recalls. His breakout moment came against Montgomery's Robert E. Lee Generals, when, late in the game, he scooped up a fumble and ran 38 yards for the winning touchdown. Established network of influencers, political staff, department officials and media, supporting sound execution of public affairs initiatives. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. White says he was assured by the Legion Field crew that it would be able to handle the crowd. He had left the University of Alabama in the spring of 1979 without a diploma. "It was odd to see people react and want a piece of cloth off of somebody else who was wearing it. "In high school, he was the best quarterback in the state of Alabama, and Coach Bryant did his job. "To be a 16-, 17-year-old kid, I had never seen anybody run and do the things Tony did athletically. "Before I signed to go to Alabama, Coach Bryant told me, 'Well, look, you can try out (for basketball), but if you're not within the top six, you've got to come back out for spring ball.'''. And much to the surprise of probably everybody who was there that night -- fans, players, coaches, cheerleaders and sportswriters -- neither one of the teams would go on to win it all that year. "We knew each other from grammar school.". This week, Birmingham filmmakers Jon and Andrew Erwin began shooting a movie, "Woodlawn," which takes place during Nathan's days at Woodlawn High School and focuses in on that 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Newman serves as a criminal court judge in Miami-Dade County, and six years ago, he hired Nathan to be a bailiff in his courtroom. On Nov. 8, 1974 -- 40 years ago this Saturday - the two-time defending state champion Banks Jets met their eastern Birmingham rivals the Woodlawn Colonels in front of what was then and remains today the biggest crowd to ever watch a high school football game in Alabama. While Nathan ran for 112 yards and scored a touchdown that night, the Colonels lost to the Jets 18-7, with Rutledge completing eight of nine passing for 185 yards and a touchdown. While it has been reported that only one gate was open that night, Walter Garrett, who was the stadium manager at Legion Field for 38 years, says that both gates 7A and 7B at the south entrance to the stadium were open, as was customary at all Birmingham high school games there. He will miss Saturday night's exhibition game against the Giants at Giants Stadium. Bill Battle, the young coach at Tennessee, wanted Nathan to come play for him in Knoxville, and Vols star quarterback Condredge Holloway showed him around on his official visit. The main building, built in 1922, was a grand, three-story structure that always looked more like a palace than a schoolhouse. Jeff Rutledge Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is an American football coach and former professional quarterback. So he signed again with the Giants, but for less than the $400,000 he made last year. The night after that chat, in an exhibition game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Rutledge completed all 8 of his passes for 156 yards. He was part of a team that earned back-to-back state titles at L. Frazier Banks High School in Birmingham, Alabama. "I had some professors walk up to me and say, 'Hey, we were around when you were playing.'. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). All rights reserved (About Us). Rutledge is a Christian and attends Arizona Community Church in Chandler. "We don't have any of the highlight reels from the '70s that they have from Bo Jackson's day, but Tony did some phenomenal things on the football field and on the basketball court. "It touched me," he says. Our defensive game plan was awesome.". In the spring of 2007 Rutledge got his first NFL coaching job when he was hired as quarterbacks coach with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, with direct charge over Kurt Warner. "He ate a few pieces of it, but he didn't eat much.". Manage Settings Charles Tillman Rutledge, Jr. Boiling Springs, SC Charles Tillman Rutledge, Jr., 80, of 2558 Old Furnace Road, passed away Thursday, June 20, 2019, at Spartanburg Hospital For Restorative Care . His zodiac sign is Aquarius More about Jeff Rutledge Photo Gallery Jeff Rutledge Jeff Rutledge They got at least part of that right. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. "It was the thrill of my life," Louise Nathan says. 66. "All three kids were raised here. On Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams lost their backup, Mark Herrmann, for six to eight weeks with broken ribs. Center Dwight Stephenson and defensive back Don McNeal, who were a year behind him, would join the Dolphins the next year. [4], Rutledge is a Christian and attends Arizona Community Church in Chandler. "The other thing about the wishbone, if you were a truly good back in the wishbone, you had to block, too,'' says Murray Legg, who, as a defensive back on those Alabama teams, often went up against Nathan in practice. Ragland recalls. (Birmingham News file/Charles Nesbitt). We definitely love Miami. He and his wife, Johnnie, who was his high school sweetheart at Woodlawn and his college sweetheart at Alabama, still live in the same house they bought in 1983. "I was like, 'What?'" According to our Database, He has no children. Some of those who were in the stands that night can't say for sure who won, and even many of those who were on the fieldare hard-pressed to remember the final score. Meanwhile, the recruiting letters continued to pour in from schools such as USC, Notre Dame, Texas and Oklahoma, as well as SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. They know they're going to get presents when they see me. "It was time for people to actually get along -- no matter what race or color you were," he says. After games, fans mobbed Nathan to get a piece of his jersey. He was part of a team that earned back-to-back state titles at L. Frazier Banks High School in Birmingham, Alabama. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. During preseason camp, evangelist Wales Goebel, who became a born-again Christian after alcohol destroyed his small-college basketball career and nearly cost him his life, came to share his story with the Woodlawn players. Rutledge was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. "It's . "The touchdown was a busted play," he recalls. RELATED:See who plays Tony Nathan in 'Woodlawn'. He was the starting quarterback on the 1978 National Championship team. "All I had ever seen of football games was everybody falling on each other and piling on each other," she says. DeOssie, who has been starting at inside linebacker, strained his back lifting weights. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. "I played with older guys, and I wanted to be able to play on their level," Nathan says. Jeffrey Ronald Rutledge (born January 22, 1957) is a former American football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. Discover Jeff Rutledge's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. "I think I had lost to Banks four times in three years because my freshman year, I played them as a freshman and on the B-team. On one particular visit, Bryant brought his overnight bag, Tony's father remembers. (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). (Photo courtesy of Tony Nathan). Rutledge earned MVP honors at the 1978 Sugar Bowl and also earned All-SEC honors in 1978 and 1979.[4]. The purchase date corresponds with most of the transfers from Mr. Slaughter's account, according to the suit. But she's been through this every year. Among those 42,000 who came to watch was a freshman sorority girl from the University of Alabama, who was there not because she had any allegiance to either team but just because she heard it was a big game and she wanted to see it and be a part of it. ''That may make the Giants think,'' said Rutledge. Later, while at Belmont High School in Mississippi, Gerelds was diagnosed with brain cancer, and he died in 2003, coaching right up until the end. "That was neat, that she had just come up (for the game), not knowing anything that was going to happen years later," Rutledge says. The following Friday night, Woodlawn closed out its season on a cold, rainy night at Fair Park, defeating Carver 12-0. "What are you doing with that grip?'" "It was weird," he says. Jeff Rutledge takes a breather during the 1974 Banks-Woodlawn game at Legion Field in Birmingham. And while most college players today are bigger, faster and stronger now than they were during Nathan's college days, Legg has no doubt that, had Nathan come along four decades later, Nick Saban would find a place for him with Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake in the Crimson Tide's current running back rotation. "We were down 24-zip and nothing was going right, and that was the play that gave us the spark to come back. His parents met at the University of Arkansas, and when he was almost four his family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Coach Tandy Gerelds was a fine man and a fine coach, and he had a lot to do with a lot of players on that team coming to know the Lord," Brad Hendrix, a senior defensive end on the '74 team, says. . He was just a humble high school athlete. Senior Consultant. The family will receive friends from 12:00-1:30 pm, Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at . Birmingham police guessed another 20,000 gave up and went back home when they saw the long lines. Rutledge played collegiately at Alabama, where he was a member of three SEC Championship teams under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. "This was before Bo Jackson," Ragland, the Woodlawn quarterback, says. Some were easier. Tony started playing pickup basketball games with some older boys in the neighborhood, and he was good enough that he was recruited to play in a rec league at Huffman Park. Jeff Rutledge, who played at Alabama after he graduated from Bank High School, is pictured here during the 1976 Alabama-Notre Dame game in South Bend, Ind. fatal car accident in tulare county / how to endorse a check for mobile deposit wells fargo / jeff rutledge wife. I knew it even before that, when Plan B came along.'' "I told him, me being so far behind, I didn't want to flunk out. Jeff was in the flooring business and owned Vintage Wood Floors, Inc. From Woodlawn, linebacker Rocha McKinstry signed with Auburn, and Hendrix, the defensive end, played with the University of North Alabama and later, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers. The sports teams at Woodlawn became known as the Colonels and the school colors were green and gold, the same colors that student pranksters sometimes painted that Sabre jet at nearby Banks. I said, 'You have to wait until you see me.' Nose tackle Bob Baumhower, who was two years ahead of Nathan at Alabama, was already there when Nathan arrived for his first camp. Banks came in riding a 34-game unbeaten streak, its last loss coming to Woodlawn, 21-18, three years before. That same night, Banks' 35-game unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end when Rutledge blew out an ankle and the banged-up Jets lost 34-27 to West End.