College: Tennessee Role American football player Name Bill Anderson | Average: 17.1 Receiving yards: 3,048 Positions End, Tight end | |
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Date of birth: (1936-07-13) July 13, 1936 (age 79) Place of birth: Hendersonville, North Carolina NFL draft: 1958 / Round: 3 / Pick: 31 Education University of Tennessee, Tennessee State University | ||
Walter William Anderson (July 13, 1936 – April 18, 2017) was an American football tight end in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Green Bay Packers. He played high school football at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida and college football at the University of Tennessee. He was drafted in the third round of the 1958 NFL Draft.
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Washington
Anderson played at Washington from 1958 to 1963. He was selected by the team as Rookie of the Year in 1958 and Player of the Year in 1959. Bill made 178 catches, averaging 17.1 yards per catch, and scored 14 touchdowns over six seasons. Anderson was a two-time Pro Bowl selection (1959 and 1960).
Comeback with Green Bay
Anderson retired from football in 1963 and joined the Tennessee staff as an assistant coach. However, he temporarily put his retirement plans on hold and signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1965. He played 24 games with Green Bay from 1965–1966 and averaged 11.9 yards per catch. The comeback was a good thing for him as the Packers won the 1965 and 1966 NFL Championships and he subsequently earned a Super Bowl ring when the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl I on January 15, 1967.
Broadcasting
In 1968, Anderson returned to Tennessee as color analyst for football games on the Vol Network, partnered with play-by-play announcer John Ward. Ward and Anderson would remain together for 31 years, the longest-running broadcast partnership in college football at the time. Their final game was the 1998 national championship game, the first game of the Bowl Championship Series, won by Tennessee over Florida State University.
Death
Anderson died on April 18, 2017, at a hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the age of 80.