American football player (born 1954)
American football player
Danny Marcellus Jiggetts
(born March 10, 1954) is an American former
football
offensive lineman
. He was selected by the
Chicago Bears
in the
1976 NFL draft
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Jiggetts was born in
Brooklyn
, but grew up on
Long Island
when his parents moved there soon after he was born.
[1]
: 1
Excelling in both academics and athletics at
Westhampton Beach High School
, Jiggetts ranked in the top 10% of his class academically, earning a
Rotary
scholarship for college and was elected
class president
each of his four years of high school as well as earning eleven
varsity letters
in three different sports. He was extremely popular, noted a high school friend from Quogue, former United States Congressman Michael P. Forbes, who graduated a year earlier in 1971. Jiggetts was named a
high school All-American
defensive end
, and also won the New York state regional championships in both the
discus
and
shot put
.
[1]
: 2
Jiggetts was heavily recruited out of high school for football.
[2]
He signed a
national letter of intent
to go to
Ohio State
and play for their coach
Woody Hayes
, but eventually changed his mind and decided to enroll in
Harvard
instead in order to keep a promise he made to his mother who died four days after his high school graduation.
[1]
: 2
Collegiate playing career
[
edit
]
Playing
offensive tackle
for Harvard, Jiggetts was named All-Ivy League three times and All-East twice as well as
All-American
by both the
AP
and
UPI
during his senior year in 1975.
[1]
: 2
Named captain of Harvard's 1975 football team,
[3]
he was not only the first
African American
to be honored as such,
[1]
: 2
but he also helped lead the team to its first undisputed
Ivy League
Championship.
[2]
Considered to be one of the finest lineman in the history of the league, Jiggetts was named to the Ivy's Silver Anniversary All-Star Team and was inducted into the Harvard Varsity Hall of Fame.
[2]
After graduating, Jiggetts was drafted in the sixth round of
1976 NFL draft
by the
Chicago Bears
.
Professional playing career
[
edit
]
Jiggetts played 98 games as a
backup
offensive lineman for the Bears from 1976 to 1982.
Released by the team during the 1983 preseason, Jiggetts went on to play one season each for the
Chicago Blitz
and
San Antonio Gunslingers
in the
USFL
[5]
before retiring in 1985.
[6]
During his playing career, Jiggetts was active in player-management labor relations in both the NFL and USFL. He served as a player representative for the Bears
[7]
and was the vice-president of the
National Football League Players Association
at the time of the
1982 strike
.
[8]
[9]
Jiggetts was also involved in attempts to unionize USFL players as a member of the Blitz.
[10]
Sportscasting career
[
edit
]
Jiggetts joined
NFL on CBS
as an analyst in 1985. In 1987, 1989-1991, and 1993, he has split play-by-play partners with
James Brown
and
Brad Nessler
.
[
citation needed
]
He co-hosted "Monsters and Money in the Morning" with
Mike North
on
CBS 2 Chicago
from February 1 to August 27, 2010. He started working with North on their "Monsters of the Midday" radio program in 1992 as part of the launch of Chicago's WSCR sports radio station, known as "The Score," which is now at 670-AM. They co-hosted Monsters of the Midday for eight years. The Monsters and Money show was not considered a news program by station management but was added to the lineup as an attempt to increase its advertising revenue earning potential, its experimental format of combining sports talk by Jiggetts and North with news headlines, weather and discussions of financial matters never really caught on with viewers.
[11]
He is also a
sportscaster
for
NBC Sports Chicago
and was the co-host of a daily morning show on the station. He has also worked for
CBS
and
ESPN
and hosted a highly rated radio show on
WSCR
in Chicago. In September 2010, he returned to
WFLD-TV
to anchor sports on Fridays and Saturdays.
[
citation needed
]
Jiggetts currently hosts several shows on NBC Sports Chicago. He was inducted into the
Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame
on Long Island, New York, in the Football Category with the Class of 1990.
[
citation needed
]
Personally, Jiggetts has a daughter, Lauren, who is a newscaster for the WGN Early Morning News in Chicago.
[12]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
O'Donnell, Jim (July 11, 1993).
"Former Bear Dan Jiggetts An All-american Success Story: Wscr Host Has Spent Lifetime Gaining Fans"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
September 25,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
Herzog, Bob (September 8, 2012).
"Where are they now? Dan Jiggetts"
.
MSG Varsity
. Archived from
the original
on September 25, 2015
. Retrieved
September 25,
2015
.
- ^
Quigley, Andrew P. (November 26, 1974).
"Jiggetts Elected Football Captain for Next Year"
.
The Harvard Crimson
. Retrieved
September 25,
2015
.
- ^
Gold, Eddie (November 9, 1986).
"Ex-Bear tackle Dan Jiggetts"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
. Archived from
the original
on February 29, 2016
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
– via
HighBeam Research
.
- ^
McDill, Kent (December 7, 2001).
"You want to Talk about the Bears Plenty of former players litter the airwaves for fans to enjoy"
.
Daily Herald
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
– via
Newspapers.com
.
Jiggetts was working as the vice president of a commercial lending division at a Chicago bank after his career ended in the USFL in 1985.
- ^
Fernandez, Bernard (October 5, 1987).
"Some Good Play Emerges Amid Bad, Ugly"
.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
.
- ^
Barnes, Bart; Attner, Paul (October 2, 1982).
"Acrimonious Talks Recessed"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
.
- ^
Lane, Chuck (September 29, 1982).
"Union Man Jiggetts Tackles NFL Bosses"
.
The Harvard Crimson
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
.
- ^
Jauss, Bill (April 8, 1984).
"USF players labor over forming union"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
.
- ^
Karp, Gregory (August 12, 2010).
"
'Monsters and Money' not mixing: Channel 2 to cancel sports and finance morning show"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
October 1,
2015
.
- ^
"
'Lauren Jiggetts @ WGN-TV'
"
. Retrieved
16 March
2024
.
External links
[
edit
]