Bill Gregory

For other people with the same name, see William Gregory (disambiguation).
Bill Gregory
No. 77
Position: Defensive tackle / Defensive end
Personal information
Date of birth: (1949-12-14) December 14, 1949
Place of birth: Galveston, Texas
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight: 255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school: Lincoln (TX) La Marque
College: Wisconsin
NFL Draft: 1971 / Round: 3 / Pick: 77
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Interceptions: 2
Fumble recoveries: 6
Games started: 63
Games played: 142
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

William Penn Gregory, Jr. (born December 14, 1949) is a former American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football at the University of Wisconsin.

Early years

Gregory attended Lincoln High School where he practiced football, basketball and track. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, where he was named the starter at defensive tackle as a sophomore and finished second on the team in tackles with 75 (48 solo).

In 1969 he led the team in tackles with 102 (58 solo), receiving honorable mention All-Big Ten and second team Big Ten All-Academic honors. In 1970 he was moved to defensive end and received All-Big Ten and third-team All-American honors.[1]

In 2007, he was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.[2]

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Gregory was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round (77th overall pick) of the 1971 NFL Draft. He served mainly as a backup defensive tackle and defensive end, to some of the Cowboys greatest defensive players: Bob Lilly, Jethro Pugh, George Andrie, Larry Cole, Randy White, Harvey Martin and Ed "Too Tall" Jones.

He was a part time starter at right defensive tackle in 1975 (6 starts) and 1976 (6 starts). A knee injury slowed him in the early part of the 1977 season, but he ended up starting the final 2 regular season games and playing as a substitute in Super Bowl XII.

On August 28, 1978, he was traded along with a third round draft choice to the Seattle Seahawks, in exchange for a third (#76-Doug Cosbie) and a sixth round (#155-Tim Lavender) draft choices.[3] The Seahawks traded the third round draft choice they received to the San Francisco 49ers, which they used to select future hall of famer Joe Montana.

Seattle Seahawks

In 1978, the Seattle Seahawks named him the starter at right defensive end and went on to register a then franchise record 9 sacks and also 65 tackles.[4][5] The next year he finished with 6.5 sacks and 64 tackles. On August 17, 1981, he was waived after playing for the Seahawks in 46 games (43 starts).[6]

Personal life

After leaving football, Gregory worked for IBM until his retirement.

References

  1. ↑ "2007 Wisconsin Hall of Fame Induction Friday". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Athletic Department Hall Of Fame". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Seattle Gets Dallas Tackle". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Seahawks Come Of Age". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  5. ↑ "1978: Sims for six". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Seahawks cut vet Gregory". Retrieved February 19, 2016.
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