Role | General Manager
Born | Zanesville, Ohio
Date-of-Birth | January 24, 1937
Died | January 30, 2023 (age 86)
College | El Camino College / Cal Poly
Redskins Tenure | 1978-1988 (General Manager)
Pro Football Hall of Fame | Inducted 2018 (Contributor)
Career Highlights
- Cut by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted rookie free agent safety in 1959
- Part of two Super Bowl-winning front offices with the Miami Dolphins (VII, VIII) before joining Washington
- Named Washington Redskins General Manager in 1978
- Hired an unknown assistant coach named Joe Gibbs as head coach in 1981
- Built Washington teams that won Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XXII
- Compiled a 105-63 record over 11 seasons as Washington’s GM
- Drafted Hall of Famers Art Monk, Russ Grimm, and Darrell Green
- Pioneered the strategy of trading down in the draft to stockpile picks
- Later built the San Diego Chargers into their first Super Bowl appearance (XXIX)
- Washington Redskins Ring of Fame
- 90 Greatest Redskins/Commanders
Awards
- Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2018 (third general manager ever inducted)
- Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame
- Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame (1988)
- 5x World Bodysurfing Champion, men’s 65-and-over division (2005-2009)
Bobby Beathard Was Cut by the Redskins, Then Built Them a Dynasty
Bobby Beathard’s football career started with the Washington Redskins cutting him. Two decades later, he was running the franchise, building the roster that would deliver two Super Bowl championships. Few executives in NFL history have a stranger, better origin story.
Cut by the Team He’d Later Build
Beathard grew up in El Segundo, California, and didn’t even start playing football until his sophomore year of high school. He accepted a scholarship to LSU, then got so homesick he came home after a single summer of practice.
He eventually landed at Cal Poly, backing up at running back before becoming the team’s starting quarterback and defensive back.
None of it was enough to get him drafted. Washington gave him a tryout as an undrafted rookie free agent safety in 1959 and cut him during training camp. Beathard bounced through odd jobs and semi-pro ball before finding his real calling: not as a player, but as a scout.
From Scout to Super Bowl Architect
Beathard broke into scouting with the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1960s, then spent time with the Atlanta Falcons before Don Shula hired him as the Miami Dolphins’ director of player personnel in 1972. He helped build the rosters behind Miami’s perfect 1972 season and back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
Washington hired him as general manager in 1978, inheriting a team that had traded away its first five draft picks that year. Beathard wasn’t rattled. “We don’t have to get worse to get better,” he told reporters at his introductory press conference.
He went on to become the league’s most aggressive trader of first-round picks, using Washington’s own first-rounder just three times in 11 seasons. “A lot of people in the league thought I was nuts,” he admitted years later.
The boldest move of his tenure came in 1981, when he hired a little-known assistant off Don Coryell’s Chargers staff to be Washington’s next head coach: Joe Gibbs.
Building a Dynasty
The Gibbs-Beathard partnership turned into one of the most successful pairings in NFL history. Beathard’s rosters, built heavily through mid-round picks and undrafted free agents, won Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XXII.
Washington’s Super Bowl XVII roster alone included 27 free agents Beathard had signed. He drafted future Hall of Famers Art Monk, Russ Grimm, and Darrell Green, along with Ring of Fame names like Dexter Manley, Charles Mann, and Mark Rypien.
After leaving Washington, Beathard took over the San Diego Chargers in 1990 and delivered the same turnaround, leading the franchise to its first division title in over a decade and, eventually, its first Super Bowl appearance.
Life Outside Football
Away from the office, Beathard lived like no other GM in the league. He ran the 1984 New York City Marathon and won the World Bodysurfing Championship’s 65-and-over division five years running, from 2005 through 2009.
He was famous around the league for his sparse, health-conscious diet and his refusal to sit behind a desk when he could be scouting in person.
Football and music both run deep in the Beathard family. His son Casey became a successful Nashville songwriter, co-writing hits for artists like Kenny Chesney. His grandson C.J. Beathard went on to a career as an NFL quarterback, and another grandson, Tucker, became a country music artist in his own right.
The family endured real tragedy in 2019, when grandson Clayton Beathard was killed in Nashville.
Cooperstown of Football
Beathard entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, only the third general manager in history to be enshrined, with Joe Gibbs presenting him at the induction ceremony.
He died in 2023 at age 86.
For a player once cut by Washington without a second thought, Bobby Beathard ended up as arguably the most important architect in franchise history.