Danny White: QB-P

A couple of months ago on the blog, I shared my newly completed 1982 Topps football set. It might be my favorite football design of the 1980s. Quite a few cards stood out to me—some for the action depicted, and others for the noticeable lack of action. Then there were cards that caught my attention for other reasons, including one that I thought deserved some research and a post of its own. 

 

Here it is:

 

Have a look at the playing position on the right side of the banner.

QB-P

Quarterback. Punter.

That's right. Danny White is listed at both positions on his 1982 Topps card.

Now, you often see multiple playing positions on baseball cards. You've got designations like 2B-SS, OF-DH, and so on. Hockey cards also sometimes feature players who spend time at multiple positions, like C-LW, or RW-LW.

But football players? I'm not as knowledgeable about the sport, but aside from maybe a wide receiver who also returns some kicks (WR-KR), a dual-position player feels pretty rare—especially the "QB-P" designation. And it sure seems like a lot of work for the poor guy. I mean, he tries his hardest to advance the offense far enough down the field for a touchdown or field goal, but every time he fails he's got to punt it away, too?

 

Regardless, there it is, right on the card front. And check out the card back!

 

 

The evidence starts right away, with the statistical highlight printed under Mr. White's name:  

 

Danny tossed a 73-yard pass and booted a 60-yard punt in 1981.

Impressive. 

 

Below that, the card goes on to list White's career passing, punting, and rushing stats.

 

Even more impressive!

 

So here's the story:

Danny White was punting and quarterbacking even in his college days at Arizona State University. The Dallas Cowboys selected him in the 1974 draft, but with Roger Staubach as the main man taking snaps at the time, the team was only interested in White's punting skills. Not happy with that idea, White signed with the Memphis Southmen of the World Football league, where he had the opportunity to punt and quarterback. 

 

Welp, a couple of years later, the WFL folded. White then signed with the Cowboys, settling for a full-time punter and backup QB role. (Backing up Roger Staubach isn't such a bad thing, I guess.) When Staubach retired after the 1979 season, it was White's time to step into the starting QB role, while maintaining his punting duties. So he took the ball and ran with it. And threw it. And punted it.

 

Because the 1982 Topps card above mentions some of White's 1981 accomplishments, let's look more closely into his numbers that season.

 

1981 Punting Record

Category	Total	NFL Rank
Punts	79	T-14th
Yards	3,222	14th
Yards per Punt	40.8	T-15th
Long	60	T-22nd
Touchbacks	7	T-14th
Punts Inside 20-Yard Line	19	T-8th
% Punts Inside 20-Yard Line	24.1%	11th

 

 

Those numbers show that Danny White was a pretty serviceable punter. With 28 teams in the league at that point, I'd say he was at league average—maybe even slightly above. Let's look at his quarterbacking numbers now.

1981 Passing Record

Category	Total	NFL Rank
W-L	11-4-0	4th
Attempts	391	15th
Completions	223	15th
Completion %	57.0	11th
Yards	3,098	12th
Touchdowns	22	T-8th
Interceptions	13	T-21st
Long	73	15th
Yards Gained per Attempt	7.9	T-3rd
Sacks	30	T-8th

 

 

White also rushed for 104 yards in 38 attempts, for an average of 2.7 yards per carry. His longest rush was 17 yards. And looking at all those passing numbers and rankings, you can see that he was a pretty good QB, too.

But what about the modern NFL? With the enormous salaries of starting quarterbacks these days, a team wouldn't dare use one as a punter as well, would they? It's just too risky. And let's be honest. If you were a linebacker on the punt return team and you saw that the starting QB was back there to take the punt, you'd probably try extra-hard to break through the line and block it, right? 

 

I would.

 

So I think we've got to tip our collective hat to Mr. Danny White. He held down the full-time quarterback and punter responsibilities for a good part of his career (from 1980 through 1985), was a Pro Bowl participant in 1982, and earned a Super Bowl ring in 1978.

Pretty remarkable.

Can any of you football fans out there think of other quarterbacks who punted? I did a little research, and a couple of famous QBs like Terry Bradshaw and Randall Cunningham made the list. However, those cases seemed more out of necessity, like when the regular punter was injured.

 

There's also the example of Tom Tupa, a punter who filled in at quarterback a few times. That's pretty cool too, but it's still no Danny White.

Share any info you have in the comment section, and thanks for reading!