Name Joe Roth Career end 1976 | Career start 1975 Role Football player | |
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Education | ||
Joe roth segment 1 the player
Joseph Lawrence Roth (May 29, 1955 – February 19, 1977) was a college football player, an All-American quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Roth played the 1976 season with melanoma and died three months after his last regular season game and just weeks after an all-star game in Japan, in February 1977. Later that year, Roth's number 12 jersey was retired, the only number currently retired by the California Golden Bears football program.
Contents
- Joe roth segment 1 the player
- Joe roth don t quit video
- High school career
- College career
- Honors
- References
Joe roth don t quit video
High school career
A 1973 graduate of Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Roth led Grossmont College of El Cajon to an undefeated season and state title in 1974, and transferred to University of California, Berkeley in 1975.
College career
Originally a back-up, he won the starting role in the fourth game of the 1975 season, and led the California Golden Bears to the Pac-8 title as co-champions. The 1975 team had such stars as running back Chuck Muncie and wide receiver Wesley Walker. Cal led the nation in total offense, remarkably gaining the same yardage both passing and rushing with 2,522 yards respectively.
In 1976, Roth was a pre-season favorite for the Heisman Trophy. The season was more tumultuous, and towards the end of the year Roth's performance started to drop, but he was named an All-American and would finish ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting, won by Tony Dorsett.
After the season ended, he revealed that he had played the last half of the season with melanoma, the recurrence of a previously removed tumor. Despite his deteriorating physical condition, he honored his commitments to play in both the Hula Bowl and the Japan Bowl. According to a friend's reminiscence, during the Japan Bowl festivities Roth had agreed to sit for a thirty-minute autograph session; but finding, at the end of the allotted time, hundreds of children still waiting, he continued to sign until every child had an autograph, after which he left the building and vomited.
By mid-February he was in the hospital, where (in the words of the San Francisco Chronicle) "a doctor wanted to amputate both legs, but Roth did not want to die in pieces. What he wanted was to die among his friends and family at his Berkeley apartment. The ambulance delivered him, and his teammates carried him up three flights of stairs. Two days later, they carried his body back down." Roth died February 19, 1977, at age 21.
Honors
NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle opened the 1977 NFL Draft with a moment of silence for Roth.
Posthumously, Roth received the Berkeley Citation in 1977, awarded to those "whose attainments significantly exceed the standards of excellence in their fields and whose contributions to UC Berkeley are manifestly above and beyond the call of duty." In 2000, he was inducted into the University of California Athletic Hall of Fame.
Several awards are named in honor of Roth, including the Joe Roth Award for the high school player in the San Diego area that best demonstrates courage, the Joe Roth Memorial Award which is given to the San Diego County junior college football player that best exemplifies high academic standards and athletic excellence, the Joe Roth Memorial Award which was given as the MVP award for the Japan Bowl, and the Joe Roth Award which is given to the Cal football player who best demonstrates courage, attitude, and sportsmanship.
Cal football designates each year's home game against either USC or UCLA as the Joe Roth Memorial Game. Cal wore throwback uniforms similar to those the Bears wore during Roth's career for the 2007 Roth Memorial Game, and will do so again in 2017.
A documentary about Roth, Don't Quit: The Joe Roth Story, was released in 2015.