Bobby Beathard, an NFL executive who built the foundation for seven Super Bowl teams during his Hall of Fame career, winning two titles in the 1980s as the general manager of Washington’s NFL franchise, died Jan. 30 at home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 86.
With his blond pageboy haircut, marathon runner’s lean physique and laid-back presence of a California surfer, which he had been since childhood, Mr. Beathard did not fit the archetype of a pro-football team executive. He refused to don a tie and sports jacket, let alone a suit, and his everyday attire of shorts and jogging shoes or flip-flops gave him a certain rakish affability.
“There’s one guy, and he’s the right guy. I’m sure of it, but you’re going to have to believe me,” Mr. Beathard recounted to The Post in 2000. “He said ‘Who is it?’ I said, ‘Joe Gibbs.’ He said, ‘Who in the hell is Joe Gibbs? I’ve never heard of him.’ I kept telling him, ‘You’re going to have to trust me,’ and he kept saying, ‘They’re going to crucify us if it’s not the right guy.’”
In the 1981 draft, Mr. Beathard plucked future Pro Bowlers such as guard Russ Grimm, defensive pass rusher Dexter Manley and wideout Charlie Brown in later rounds. That same year, he signed the undrafted lineman Joe Jacoby, who earned four Pro Bowl selections. For all his success at spotting football talent, Mr. Beathard made one of the greatest draft blunders in NFL history in 1998, when he selected quarterback Ryan Leaf for the Chargers. Leaf was out of the league within three years and was later convicted on burglary and drug charges. An NFL documentary proclaimed him “the No. 1 draft bust” in NFL history.“During my career I’ve never seen a player that had so much talent do so little with it,” Mr. Beathard told ESPN.Robert King Beathard Jr.
Starting in 1968, he signed on with the Atlanta Falcons, where he continued to spend weeks at a time on the road. That led to the dissolution of his first marriage, to Larae Rich, with whom he had four children.
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