Shafer Suggs, Ball State (Football)
Shafer Lee Suggs started four years in football and three in basketball at Ball State from 1972 to 1975 before playing five seasons in the National Football League with the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals.
Following his senior football campaign, Suggs was selected as the MAC Defensive Player of the Year and received All-America Second Team honors from the Associated Press in Ball State's first year in Division I football. The defensive back also was named All-MAC First Team as the Cardinals posted a 9-2 overall record and a 4-2 league mark to tied for third in their first MAC football race.
A 1976 Ball State graduate, Suggs was the only Cardinal athlete to letter in both football and basketball in the same season since 1965-66. During the 1972-73 campaign, he became the first freshman to letter in both sports since 1951-52.
Suggs established the Ball State career record for interceptions with 14 and tied the school single-season mark with eight interceptions in 1974.
During his Ball State basketball career, Suggs averaged 10.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He ranked eighth in career rebounds at Ball State with 527 despite skipping his senior campaign to play in college football all-star games. Suggs was named MAC Player of the Week for Feb. 3-8, 1975, when he amassed 53 points and 41 rebounds vs. Butler, Kent State and Illinois State, while setting a school record with nine consecutive field goals without a miss vs. Butler and Kent State.
Suggs started in three college all-star football games in 1976 -- the East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco,Calif., the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., and the College All-Star Game in Chicago, Ill. In the College All-Star Game, Suggs intercepted a pass by Terry Hanratty of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chosen in the second round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the New York Jets, Suggs played in 56 games with 53 starts for the Jets from 1976 to 1980. He started all 16 games for the Jets in 1978 and then he led the team in tackles in 15 of 16 games during the 1979 season. After being injured in the fourth game of the 1980 season, Suggs was acquired by Cincinnati and played in the Bengals final four games that season. Suggs also played with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 1981 and the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League in 1983.
During his NFL career, Suggs had seven interceptions and returned them for 114 yards. He scored his only NFL touchdown on Oct. 15, 1979 in a nationally televised Monday Night game vs. the Minnesota Vikings when he returned an interception 37 yards to lift the Jets to a 14-7 victory.
Born April 28, 1953, in Elkhart, Ind., Suggs lettered two years in football, basketball and track at Elkhart Central High School prior to his 1972 graduation.
