Place of birth: Cleveland, Ohio Name Phil Pozderac Positions Tackle College: Notre Dame | High school: Garfield Heights Weight 126 kg Height: 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Role American football player | |
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Date of birth: (1959-12-19) December 19, 1959 (age 56) NFL draft: 1982 / Round: 5 / Pick: 137 | ||
Education University of Notre Dame | ||
Philip Maurice Pozderac (born December 19, 1959) is a former American football offensive lineman who played six seasons in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame.
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Early years
Pozderac attended Garfield Heights High School, where he practiced basketball and football.
He accepted a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame and was named the starter at right tackle in his junior and senior seasons. In his last year, he received the team's Outstanding Offensive player and honorable mention All-American honors.
Dallas Cowboys
Pozderac was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 5th round (137th overall) of the 1982 NFL Draft and tied Ed "Too Tall" Jones as the NFL's tallest players (both Jones and Pozderac were 6'9".)
In 1984 after the retirement of Pat Donovan, he beat former first round selection Howard Richards for the starting left tackle job (7 starts), before being moved to the right tackle position, when Jim Cooper missed half of the season after being injured on a bizarre accident, when he slipped while rising from a table at a night club, while watching Monday Night Football.
The next year, he split time (7 starts) with Chris Schultz at left tackle.
In 1986 he was the starter left tackle, before losing his job to Mark Tuinei and being moved to the other side. He also received two infamous penalties that negated critical first downs during the final 75 seconds of a 17-14 loss against the New York Giants, propelling the team to a Super Bowl Championship. The coaches and media speculated that he became a target of the league's referees, gaining notoriety for holding and false start penalties. A standing joke in Dallas would be to list Pozderac's 5 best plays with the answer being - #1 Holding, #1 Holding, #3 Holding, #4 Holding, #5 False start.
He suddenly retired during the 1987 NFL strike and was replaced by Kevin Gogan at right tackle.
Indianapolis Colts
In 1991 he attempted a comeback with the Indianapolis Colts, but was released before the start of the season.
Personal life
He served as the NFL Players Association Dallas Chapter Chief Financial officer, Director of Sales for SC&T International, VP of Sales for Nextlink, and CEO of both MedPact and MPACT, two companies in the digital communication industry.
Pozderac has worked with the Fellows Research Group to aid research regarding the viability of thermo-acoustic devices for low temperature electric energy generation. He also had part ownership in a manufactured housing plant in Laredo Texas and a sawmill in Oklahoma. As of 2013, he was the Operations Director at the Mulligan Mint, a private minting facility in Dallas, Texas.