Fred Biletnikoff
Super Bowl XI MVP
Biletnikoff was the first consensus All-American football player at Florida State University. After college, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 1965 American Football League draft, and by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 1965 NFL Draft. Biletnikoff signed with the Raiders, and he spent his entire American Pro Football playing career in Oakland, retiring from the team after the 1978 season. He also played one season (1980) with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
Biletnikoff was known as a wily, sure-handed receiver who made clutch catches to keep crucial drives alive. He had an uncanny ability to get open, even when everyone in the stadium knew that the ball was coming his way. He was famous for using liberal quantities of Stickum on his hands to improve his chances of catching a pass. He also tended to not wear any knee pads.
Biletnikoff's career total of 589 receptions is relatively unimpressive by today's standards, but it was a remarkable considering he would regularly smoke two packs of cigarettes per day. Also, this achievement is even more remarkable considering the more run-oriented offenses in the 60s and 70s, when the regular season was only 14 games long. The same can be said of his record of 10 straight seasons with 40 or more receptions. He played in the second AFL-NFL World Championship game and in Super Bowl XI, in which he was named MVP. In 1969, he was selected to the Sporting News AFL All-League Team. He also played in three American Football League title games, two American Football League All-Star games, five AFC Championships, and four AFC-NFC Pro Bowls.
Source:Wikipedia.Org
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