Fred Biletnikoff

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Fred Biletnikoff
Date of birth	February 23, 1943
Place of birth	Erie, Pennsylvania
Position(s)	Wide Receiver
College	Florida State
NFL Draft	1965 / Round 3
Pro Bowls	AFL All-Star 1967, 1969 NFL Pro Bowl 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974
Awards	Super Bowl XI MVP
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1965-1969 1970-1978	AFL Oakland Raiders NFL Oakland Raiders
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1988

Frederick S. Biletnikoff (born February 23, 1943 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is a retired American football player. His position was wide receiver.

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 professional playing career in Oakland, and retired after the 1978 season.

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 achievement in the more run-oriented 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 both Super Bowls II and XI, in which he was named MVP. He also played in five AFC Championships, three American Football League title games, four Pro Bowls and two American Football League All-Star games.

Biletnikoff began his career in coaching soon after his retirement. He served on the coaching staff of the Montreal Alouettes (1980), Orange Glen High School (1982), Palomar Junior College (1983), Diablo Valley Junior College (1984), Oakland Invaders (1985), Arizona Wranglers (1986) and Calgary Stampeders (1987-88). He is currently wide receivers coach for the Raiders.

In 1991, Biletnikoff was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Fred Biletnikoff Award, awarded annually to the best wide receiver in college football since 1994, was named in his honor.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 30, 1988. In 1999, he was ranked number 94 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

[edit] See also

• Other American Football League players

[edit] External links

• Biography on raiders.com [1]
• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
• Football Cards of Fred Biletnikoff
• Career Stats
• The Pennsylvania Football News All-Century Team