Autry Beamon
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| Position: | Safety | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | November 12, 1953 Terrell, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Kaufman (TX) | ||||||||||||
| College: | East Texas | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1975 / round: 12 / pick: 311 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Autry Beamon Jr. (born November 12, 1953) is a former professional American football safety who played for three National Football League (NFL) teams.
College career
[edit]Beamon played college football at East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University-Commerce, and is in the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame.[1] The Hall of Fame citation says that at age 16 he was the youngest college player in the country in 1970.[2]
He is still the only player in his college’s history to be a four-time first team All-Lone Star Conference selection.[3]
He is in both the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor and the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame.[4]
Professional career
[edit]In the 1975 NFL draft the Minnesota Vikings chose Beamon in the 12th round (draft pick 311 overall).[5] He was on the Vikings team that played in Super Bowl XI, losing to the then Oakland Raiders in January 1977.[6]
In the course of his seven-year NFL career Beamon made 13 interceptions for 132 yards including a career best six picks in the 1977 season for the Seattle Seahawks.[7] The following season he had four interceptions for the Seahawks.[8] Only two players in the NFL — Rolland Lawrence of the Atlanta Falcons and Mario Clark of the Buffalo Bills — had more interceptions in each of those two seasons, 1977 and 1978.[9][10]
Beamon had at least one fumble recovery in all but one of his seven NFL seasons for a career total of eight: three for the Vikings, three for the Seahawks and two for the Browns.[11]
In 1977 Beamon scored his only NFL touchdown, returning a blocked punt in a Seahawks home game against the Baltimore Colts.[12][13][14] His only other points in the NFL also came from a blocked punt for the Vikings in a home game against the New York Jets in 1975, resulting in a 2-point safety.[15][16][17]
In both the 1978 and 1979 seasons he was the special teams captain for the Seahawks.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ "Autry Beamon (1985) - A&M-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame".
- ^ "Autry Beamon (1985) - A&M-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame".
- ^ "Autry Beamon (2012) - Hall of Honor".
- ^ "Autry Beamon (2012) - Hall of Honor".
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150128112250/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BEAMOAUT01 [bare URL]
- ^ "Autry Beamon (2012) - Hall of Honor".
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150128112250/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BEAMOAUT01 [bare URL]
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150128112250/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BEAMOAUT01 [bare URL]
- ^ https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/category/interceptions/1977/post/all/defensiveinterceptions/desc [bare URL]
- ^ https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/category/interceptions/1978/REG/all/defensiveinterceptions/desc [bare URL]
- ^ "Autry Beamon Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ https://www.profootballarchives.com/playerb/beam00400.html [bare URL]
- ^ https://static.www.nfl.com/league/apps/league-site/media-guides/2021/SEA.pdf. See p. 268 under Blocked Punts Returned for Touchdowns
- ^ Video of Beamon’s touchdown is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N33f7PADfE
- ^ https://www.profootballarchives.com/playerb/beam00400.html [bare URL]
- ^ "A Brief Look at Jets/Vikings History". December 4, 2014.
- ^ Video of Beamon’s blocked punt safety is at 5:41 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYZd-noybkU
- ^ https://static.www.nfl.com/league/apps/league-site/media-guides/2021/SEA.pdf. See p. 303 under Captains/Special Teams