Hugh Douglas (American football)

Hugh Lamont Douglas (born August 23, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). His playing career included stints with the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles (twice), and the Jacksonville Jaguars. In his first season in 1995, Douglas was named Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. He is affectionately known as Turbo Bird.

Hugh Douglas
refer to caption
Douglas in 2008
No. 53, 99, 58
Position:Defensive end
Personal information
Born: (1971-08-23) August 23, 1971 (age 52)
Mansfield, Ohio, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:281 lb (127 kg)
Career information
High school:Mansfield
College:Central State
NFL draft:1995 / Round: 1 / Pick: 16
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Tackles:352
Sacks:80
Forced fumbles:15
Fumble recoveries:5
Interceptions:1
Defensive touchdowns:1
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

Douglas currently hosts the 94.1 WIP Midday Show in Philadelphia. He previously served as a football analyst for ESPN.

Early life edit

Douglas was born in Mansfield, Ohio and attended Mansfield Senior High School.[1]

College career edit

At Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, Douglas majored in elementary education and was a two-time NAIA Division I All-American, made 42 sacks in 32 games in a three-year career, turned in 13 multiple-sack games, and helped lead his team to an NAIA national championship as a sophomore. As a senior, Douglas was named Defensive Player of the Year by The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C.[1] He is also a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

NFL career edit

Douglas was a first-round draft choice of the Jets in the 1995 NFL Draft and was traded to the Eagles prior to the 1998 season for draft picks in the second and fifth round.[2][3] The Jets would then send the second round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for three further picks, in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th round. Those picks would become Dorian Boose, Kevin Williams, and Eric Bateman. The second Philadelphia pick would be used on Casey Dailey. None of the four would leave any sort of lasting mark in the NFL. Douglas spent the 2003 campaign with the Jaguars before re-signing with Philadelphia in 2004. Douglas is ranked sixth behind Reggie White (124), Trent Cole (85.5), Clyde Simmons (76.5), Brandon Graham (73.5) and Fletcher Cox (70) on the Eagles' all-time sack list with 54.5 during his six seasons.

Douglas was cut by the Eagles prior to the 2005 season, but was hired into the front office position of "Good-Will Ambassador" shortly after.[4]

On November 5, 2005, Douglas was reportedly involved in an altercation with former Eagles teammate Terrell Owens, who was in the midst of a very public war of words with the team.[5] Owens was suspended by the team and was later deactivated when he refused to fully apologize for the altercation, as well as for derogatory remarks made about Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb.

NFL career statistics edit

Legend
Bold Career high

Regular season edit

Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck TFL Int Yds TD Lng PD FF FR Yds TD
1995 NYJ 15 3 33 25 8 10.0 - 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 0 0
1996 NYJ 10 10 36 28 8 8.0 - 0 0 0 0 - 2 3 64 1
1997 NYJ 15 15 39 31 8 4.0 - 0 0 0 0 - 3 0 0 0
1998 PHI 15 13 46 37 9 12.5 - 0 0 0 0 - 2 0 0 0
1999 PHI 4 2 8 6 2 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
2000 PHI 16 15 54 44 10 15.0 21 1 9 0 9 2 2 0 0 0
2001 PHI 15 15 47 39 8 9.5 11 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0
2002 PHI 16 16 53 45 8 12.5 20 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
2003 JAX 16 16 27 22 5 3.5 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0
2004 PHI 16 3 15 15 0 3.0 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
138 108 358 292 66 80.0 64 1 9 0 9 9 13 5 64 1

Playoffs edit

Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck TFL Int Yds TD Lng PD FF FR Yds TD
2000 PHI 2 2 5 4 1 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 - 1 0 0 0
2001 PHI 3 3 8 7 1 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
2002 PHI 2 2 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
2004 PHI 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 7 15 13 2 4.0 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0

Broadcasting career edit

Douglas was employed for a while as an on-air reporter with WTXF-TV in Philadelphia and in 2005 joined 610 WIP a regular personality on Philadelphia's sports radio station.[6]

In January 2011, Douglas was named co-host of a Six Nations Championship rugby show on BBC America following a successful guest appearance. In his taped segments, Douglas took a stab at the sport, interviewed zookeepers and took an Irish stepdancing lesson.[7][8]

On August 1, 2011 ESPN announced that Douglas would join the network as an NFL studio analyst. He provided analysis across a myriad of studio programs such as SportsCenter, NFL Live, First Take and ESPNews.[9]

In September 2012, Douglas joined Jalen Rose as a full-time analyst on ESPN2's Numbers Never Lie, but was fired on August 13, 2013, after reportedly calling colleague Michael Smith an "Uncle Tom".[10]

Douglas worked for 92.9 The Game sports talk radio station in Atlanta, GA from 2015 until 2023.[11]

On February 20, 2023, Douglas returned to Philadelphia to co-host the Midday Show with Joe Giglio on 94.1 WIP.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Hugh Douglas". Philadelphia Eagles. Archived from the original on March 22, 2006.
  2. ^ "1995 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  3. ^ AROUND THE NFL The Washington Post (staff). March 15, 1998. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  4. ^ Ambassador Hugh Douglas. SportsFan Magazine (September 26, 2005).
  5. ^ ESPN – Owens-Douglas fistfight contributed to suspension – NFL. Sports.espn.go.com (November 7, 2005). Retrieved on 2012-12-15.
  6. ^ Hugh Douglas on Sports Radio 610 WIP. Philadelphia's Sports Radio
  7. ^ Irish Stepdancing with Hugh Douglas on Vimeo. Vimeo.com (March 19, 2011). Retrieved on 2012-12-15.
  8. ^ Videos Archived February 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. BBC America. Retrieved on December 15, 2012.
  9. ^ Nwulu Mac (August 1, 2011). Hugh Douglas Joins ESPN as NFL Studio Analyst. espnmediazone.com
  10. ^ "ESPN Fires Hugh Douglas Following Racial Altercation". Yahoo!. August 13, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  11. ^ Rodney Ho (December 18, 2015). "92.9/The Game's newest morning show: John Fricke, Hugh Douglas". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved June 5, 2017.