American football player (born 1957)
American football player
Charles Alexander
Alexander with the Bengals in 1980
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Position:
| Running back
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Born:
| (
1957-07-28
)
July 28, 1957
(age 66)
[1]
Galveston, Texas
, U.S.
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Height:
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
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Weight:
| 224 lb (102 kg)
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High school:
| Galveston (TX) Ball
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College:
| LSU
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NFL draft:
| 1979
/ Round: 1 / Pick: 12
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Player stats at
PFR
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Charles Fred Alexander Jr.
(born July 28, 1957) is an American former professional
football
player who was a
running back
in the
National Football League
(NFL) for seven seasons with the
Cincinnati Bengals
. He played
college football
for the
LSU Tigers
and twice received consensus
All-America
honors, and he was later inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame
. He was a first-round pick in the
1979 NFL draft
by the Bengals.
Early life
[
edit
]
Alexander was born in
Galveston, Texas
. He played football at
Ball High School
,
[1]
where his role as a player was primarily as a blocking back. As a result, opportunities to show his ability were limited; he did not manage 1,000 yards in his entire prep career and was only recruited by a handful of colleges.
[2]
College career
[
edit
]
Alexander was recruited to
Louisiana State University
by running backs coach
Jerry Stovall
. He later recalled that Stovall offered him trust and a real chance to be a big-time running back. "As soon as I got here, I knew it was the place for me."
[2]
Alexander joined
Hall of Fame
coach
Charles McClendon
's
LSU Tigers football
team as a freshman in 1975. He played his first two seasons backing up
All-SEC
running back
Terry Robiskie
.
[2]
He rushed for 1,177 yards total in those two seasons, including 876 yards in his sophomore year.
[2]
[3]
Alexander became the Tigers' starting running back in his junior season in 1977. Against
Oregon
, he scored four touchdowns and set a school record by rushing for 237 yards.
[4]
For his performance he was named
United Press International
Back of the Week.
[5]
His 1,686 rushing yards that season helped carry LSU to an 8?3 regular season record and a trip to the
Sun Bowl
.
[6]
In
that game
, Alexander set two Sun Bowl rushing records, carrying 31 times for 197 yards as he received Offensive Player of the Game honors. Despite Alexander's efforts?for which he was named to the 75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team
[7]
?LSU fell to
Stanford
24?14.
[6]
Alexander's workload dropped in his senior season in 1978, as the Tigers' offense became more balanced with fellow future
LSU Athletic Hall of Famer
David Woodley
at quarterback. He and Woodley led
the team
to another 8?3 record. Toward the end of the season, Alexander was drawing comparisons to NFL running back
Earl Campbell
due to his "unique, slashing running style."
[5]
He played his last game as a Tiger in the 1978
Liberty Bowl
, in which he rushed for 133 yards on 24 carries in a 20?15 loss to
Missouri
.
[6]
His accomplishments in an LSU uniform led fans to refer to him affectionately as "Alexander the Great."
[8]
[4]
In each of his final two seasons with the Tigers, Alexander was selected as a consensus
All-American
and earned
All-SEC
honors. The 1977 campaign also saw Alexander selected as the
SEC Most Valuable Player
by the
Nashville Banner
. During his college career Alexander set nine SEC records, tied another and set 27 LSU records. He finished his LSU career with 4,035 rushing yards?over 1,500 yards more than the Tigers' previous career rushing yards leader.
[9]
His 1,686 rushing yards total and 153.3 yards per game in the 1977 season stood as LSU single-season records until the
2015 season
, when both were surpassed by
Leonard Fournette
.
[10]
[11]
College statistics
[
edit
]
Legend
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Led the SEC
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SEC record
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Led the NCAA
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NCAA Record
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Bold
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Career high
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College rushing & receiving statistics*
[12]
Season
|
Team
|
GP
|
Rushing
|
Receiving
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Att
|
Yds
|
Avg
|
TD
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Rec
|
Yds
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Avg
|
TD
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1975
|
LSU
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11
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108
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301
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2.8
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2
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1
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6
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6.0
|
0
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1976
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LSU
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11
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155
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876
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5.7
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7
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8
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82
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10.3
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0
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1977
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LSU
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11
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311
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1,686
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5.4
|
17
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12
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80
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6.7
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0
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1978
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LSU
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11
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281
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1,172
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4.2
|
14
|
28
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263
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9.4
|
2
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Career
|
44
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855
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4,035
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4.7
|
40
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49
|
431
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8.8
|
2
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* Includes bowl games.
Professional career
[
edit
]
Alexander was selected 12th overall in the first round of the
1979 draft
by the
Cincinnati Bengals
.
[13]
He spent the majority of his professional career backing up
Pro Bowl
running back
Pete Johnson
, while also splitting carries with former Heisman winner
Archie Griffin
. His most productive season came in
1980
, during which he played in all 16 regular season games and carried the ball 169 times for 702 yards.
[14]
He played a prominent role during the Bengals' run in the
1981 playoffs
. In their divisional round win against the
Buffalo Bills
, Alexander rushed for 72 yards and scored two touchdowns. He is one of four Bengals players to score multiple touchdowns from scrimmage in a single postseason game, as well as the first to do so.
[15]
He rushed for 22 yards and caught three passes for 25 yards in the Bengals' win over
San Diego
in the infamous "
Freezer Bowl
."
[16]
"Everything on the sidelines froze: the players, the water, the
Gatorade
, everything," said Alexander about the game conditions.
[2]
In
Super Bowl XVI
, he carried five times for 17 yards while catching two passes for three yards in the Bengals' loss to the
49ers
.
[17]
Alexander finished his career with 2,645 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns, while adding 165 receptions for 1,130 yards and two touchdowns.
[18]
NFL career statistics
[
edit
]
Regular season
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Games
|
Rushing
|
Receiving
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GP
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GS
|
Att
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Yds
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Avg
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Lng
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TD
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Rec
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Yds
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Avg
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Lng
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TD
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1979
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CIN
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16
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3
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88
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286
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3.3
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17
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1
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11
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91
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8.3
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13
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0
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1980
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CIN
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16
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16
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169
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702
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4.2
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37
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2
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36
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192
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5.3
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23
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0
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1981
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CIN
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15
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14
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98
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292
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3.0
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16
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2
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28
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262
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9.4
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65
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1
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1982
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CIN
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9
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9
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64
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207
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3.2
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18
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1
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14
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85
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6.1
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14
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1
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1983
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CIN
|
14
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14
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153
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523
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3.4
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12
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3
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32
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187
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5.8
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14
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0
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1984
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CIN
|
16
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12
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132
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479
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3.6
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22
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2
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29
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203
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7.0
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22
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0
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1985
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CIN
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16
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5
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44
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156
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3.5
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18
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2
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15
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110
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7.3
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19
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0
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102
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73
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748
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2,645
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3.5
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37
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13
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165
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1,130
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6.8
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65
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2
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Playoffs
[
edit
]
Year
|
Team
|
Games
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Rushing
|
Receiving
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GP
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GS
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Att
|
Yds
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Avg
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Lng
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TD
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Rec
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Yds
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Avg
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Lng
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TD
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1981
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CIN
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3
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3
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27
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111
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4.1
|
30
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2
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6
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38
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6.3
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16
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0
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1982
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CIN
|
1
|
1
|
7
|
14
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2.0
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
0
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0.0
|
0
|
0
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|
4
|
4
|
34
|
125
|
3.7
|
30
|
2
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6
|
38
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6.3
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16
|
0
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Later life
[
edit
]
After retiring from the NFL, Alexander went into the oil and gas business.
[19]
He also briefly served as assistant director of LSU's Tiger Athletic Foundation.
[2]
In 1989, Alexander was inducted into the
LSU Athletic Hall of Fame
.
[2]
In 2011, he founded Charlie 4 Strong Seasoning, Inc., which markets C'mon Man
Cajun
seasoning and fish fry.
[19]
In 2012, he became the eighth former LSU football player inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame
.
[20]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Charles Alexander"
.
College Football Hall of Fame
. Football Foundation
. Retrieved
27 December
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Mickles, Sheldon.
"Charles Alexander Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction"
.
lasportshall.com
. Retrieved
28 December
2015
.
- ^
Aschoff, Edward (15 May 2012).
"Entering the Hall: Charles Alexander"
.
ESPN.go.com
. Retrieved
29 December
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"They're Calling Him Alexander The Great"
.
Ocala Star-Banner
. Associated Press. October 27, 1977. p. 5B
. Retrieved
September 1,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"Alexander Compared To Earl Campbell"
.
Herald-Journal
. December 23, 1978. p. 15
. Retrieved
September 1,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Vincent, Herb (2008).
LSU Football Vault: The History of the Fighting Tigers
. Whitman Publishing, LLC. pp. 98?99.
ISBN
978-0794824280
.
- ^
"75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team"
(PDF)
.
Geological Society of America Bulletin
.
74
(5): 1. 2008. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 12 November 2012
. Retrieved
29 December
2015
.
- ^
Vincent, Herb.
"Alexander Named to College Football Hall of Fame"
.
LSUsports.net
. Retrieved
27 December
2015
.
- ^
Rabalais, Scott (2008).
The Fighting Tigers, 1993?2008: Into a New Century of LSU Football
. LSU Press. pp. 178?179.
ISBN
9780807133705
.
- ^
Kleinpeter, Jim.
"Leonard Fournette sets LSU season rushing record"
.
nola.com
. Retrieved
28 December
2015
.
- ^
Higgins, Ron.
"LSU's Leonard Fournette puts exclamation point on record-setting season"
.
nola.com
. Retrieved
30 December
2015
.
- ^
"Charles Alexander college statistics"
.
College Football at Sports-Reference.com
. Retrieved
7 December
2015
.
- ^
"History: Full Draft"
.
NFL.com
. Retrieved
31 December
2015
.
- ^
"Charles Alexander NFL stats"
.
pro-football-reference.com
. Retrieved
27 December
2015
.
- ^
"Bengals Postseason Individual Records"
(PDF)
.
Bengals.com
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 12 November 2015
. Retrieved
29 December
2015
.
- ^
Beall, Joel.
"Remembering the Freezer Bowl Warmly"
.
Cincinnati.com
. Retrieved
29 December
2015
.
- ^
"Charles Alexander: Game Logs"
.
NFL.com
. Retrieved
29 December
2015
.
- ^
Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League
. New York: HarperCollins. 1999. p. 553.
ISBN
9780062701749
.
- ^
a
b
Higgins, Ron.
"Leonard Fournette could be better than Alexander the Great? C'mon Man!"
.
nola.com
. Retrieved
28 December
2015
.
- ^
LSU Sports Information Office.
"LSU Football 2015 Official Media Guide"
(PDF)
.
lsusports.net
. LSU Publications Office. p. 206. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
31 December
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]
Charles Alexander?awards and honors
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Overall
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Offensive
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Defensive
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Special teams
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Offense
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Defense
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Special teams
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