Tony Gonzalez (American football)

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Tony Gonzalez

Tony Gonzalez poses with two U.S. Naval commanders prior to the kickoff of the 2005 NFL Pro Bowl.
Kansas City Chiefs — No. 88
Tight end
Date of birth: February 27, 1976 (1976-02-27) (age 32)
Place of birth: Huntington Beach, California
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Weight: 251 lb (114 kg)
National Football League debut
1997 for the Kansas City Chiefs
Career history
College: California
NFL Draft: 1997 / Round: 1 / Pick: 13
 Teams:
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NFL.com

Anthony "Tony" David Gonzalez[1] (born February 27, 1976 in Torrance, California) is an American football tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League. Gonzalez, a nine time Pro Bowler, owns the NFL records for most touchdowns and receptions among tight ends and is widely considered the best tight end in NFL history

Contents

[edit] High school career

Gonzalez attended Huntington Beach High School in Huntington Beach, California, where he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball.

Gonzalez excelled at both football and basketball. As a senior, playing football he caught 62 passes for 945 yards and 13 touchdowns and was a first-team All America selection at both tight end and linebacker his senior season. Playing basketball, he was named Orange County and Sunset League MVP in basketball as he averaged 26 points per game.

After his senior year, Tony shared the Orange County High School Athlete of the Year along with golf superstar Tiger Woods. [2]

[edit] College career

Gonzalez chose to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in communications and played both football and basketball.

As a member of the California Golden Bears football team, he played tight end under future NFL coach Steve Mariucci. His junior year was one of the best seasons of all time for a Division I tight end, as he caught 46 passes for 699 yards and 5 touchdowns. Gonzalez was also an All-Pac-10 and All-American selection.

Gonzalez also continued his basketball career at Cal. His junior year he played in 28 games, averaging 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as Cal made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Gonzalez elected to forfeit his final year of eligibility at Cal to declare for the NFL draft.

[edit] NFL career

[edit] NFL draft

In 1996, the Kansas City Chiefs' offense was one of the worst in the NFL. Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer looked to use his first round pick to improve this area, and had admired Gonzalez's combination of size, athleticism, and receiving ability he had displayed while in college. Gonzalez was rated as the number one tight end in the 1997 NFL Draft, and was considered a top 15 selection. The Chiefs decided Gonzalez was their man, but were unlikely to be able to draft him with their 18th overall pick. The Chiefs thus traded up with the Houston Oilers to get the number 13 selection and draft Gonzalez.

[edit] Kansas City Chiefs

Gonzalez began his career in 1997. His rookie season was mediocre, as he caught only 33 passes and two touchdowns, despite the Chiefs finishing with the best record in the AFC. His 1998 season saw dramatic improvements in catches (59) and yards (621), but in a very pedestrian Chiefs offense Gonzalez only caught two touchdown passes for the second consecutive year.

His 1999 season saw Gonzalez become one of the best receiving tight ends in the NFL. He caught 76 passes for 849 yards and a career high 11 touchdown receptions and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. From 2000 to 2006, Gonzalez was the most productive tight end in the NFL. During this time frame he averaged 79 receptions, 968 yards, and 6.5 touchdowns per season and was selected to the Pro Bowl every year. His best season statistically was 2004, when he caught an NFL record (for a tight end) 102 passes for 1258 yards and 7 touchdowns.

In 2007, Gonzalez continued his productivity in spite of the generally poor play of the Chiefs' offense. Though the Chiefs finished at or near the bottom in most major offensive categories, Gonzalez led all NFL tight ends in receptions (99) and receiving yards (1172) while being named to his ninth straight Pro Bowl.

Starting late in the 2006, Gonzalez began to close in on numerous team and league records for receiving. Late in 2006 Gonzalez broke Otis Taylor's Chiefs team receiving yards and touchdowns mark, and also passed Priest Holmes for the team yards from scrimmage record. On 14 October, 2007, Gonzalez broke the career touchdown reception record for tight ends previously held by Shannon Sharpe, as well as passing Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome for second in career receiving yards for a tight end. On December 23, 2007, Gonzalez recorded his third season with 1,000 receiving yards, tying him with Kellen Winslow, Todd Christensen and Shannon Sharpe for most ever by a tight end, and on December 30, 2007, Gonzalez passed Shannon Sharpe for most receptions all time by a tight end.

[edit] Personal life

Early in 2007, Gonzalez suffered a bout of facial paralysis known as Bell's palsy which focused his attention on health and nutrition. Gonzalez subsequently experimented with veganism after reading The China Study, by Cornell professor and nutrition researcher T. Colin Campbell.[3], but he and his nutritionist ultimately decided that eating some meat would be best for his performance.[4] Though initially concerned about how his largely vegetarian diet might affect his playing, Gonzalez was reassured when he broke the NFL record for career receptions by a tight end.

[edit] Acting credits

[edit] Records

[edit] League records

  • Receptions in a single season for a tight end (102, 2004 season)
  • Career receptions for a tight end (816 as of December 30, 2007)
  • Career receiving touchdowns for a tight end (66 as of December 30, 2007)
  • Most seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards by a tight end (3)

[edit] Team records

  • Career receptions (820 as of December 30, 2007)
  • Career receiving yards (9681 as of December 23, 2007)
  • Career receiving touchdowns (66 as of December 23, 2007)
  • Career yards from scrimmage (9695 as of December 23, 2007)
  • Consecutive games with a reception (114 as of December 23, 2007)

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] NFL

Year Team G Rec Yds Avg Lng TD FD
1997 Kansas City Chiefs 16 33 368 11.2 30 2 21
1998 Kansas City Chiefs 16 59 621 10.5 32 2 33
1999 Kansas City Chiefs 15 76 849 11.2 73 11 47
2000 Kansas City Chiefs 16 93 1203 12.9 39 9 66
2001 Kansas City Chiefs 16 73 917 12.6 36 6 49
2002 Kansas City Chiefs 16 63 773 12.3 42 7 39
2003 Kansas City Chiefs 16 71 916 12.9 67 10 48
2004 Kansas City Chiefs 16 102 1258 12.3 32 7 69
2005 Kansas City Chiefs 16 78 905 11.6 39 2 45
2006 Kansas City Chiefs 15 73 900 12.3 57 5 54
2007 Kansas City Chiefs 16 99 1172 11.8 31 5 59
Total 174 820 9,882 12.1 73 66 530

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gonzalez on Pro-Football-Reference. rbref.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
  2. ^ Tony Gonzalez. NFL.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
  3. ^ The 247 lb. Vegan
  4. ^ New Information about NFL’s Tony Gonzalez

[edit] External links

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