 Cifers on a 1948 Bowman football card | |||||||||
| No. 45, 16 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Halfback, Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | September 5, 1920 Church Hill, Tennessee, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | July 1, 2001 (aged 80) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Dobyns-Bennett (Kingsport, Tennessee) | ||||||||
| College: | Tennessee | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1944 / round: 2 / pick: 14 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Robert Gale "Bobby" Cifers (September 5, 1920 – July 1, 2001) was a professional American football halfback and punter in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Green Bay Packers. Cifers died in a Nashville, Tennessee hospital[2] of an unknown cause.[3]
A star player at the University of Tennessee, he was the 14th overall pick in the 1944 NFL draft. He was taken in the second round by the Detroit Lions.[4]
He missed the 1943–1945 seasons to fight in World War II as part of the United States Army Air Corps. During that time he played football for Randolph Field in 1944 (which finished ranked #3 in college football and won the Treasury Bond Bowl) and the AAFTC Skymasters in 1945, which played in and lost the Legion Bowl.
His first NFL season was with the Lions in 1946, during which he led the league in punting average as a rookie. On November 24, 1946, he set the record for the highest punting average in an NFL game when he averaged 61.75 yards for four punts against the Chicago Bears. He played halfback and defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers for two seasons in 1947 and 1948 and then finished his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers in 1949.[5]
- ^ "Longest standing NFL records". The Oklahoman. September 3, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ "Roundup: Former Lions back Cifer dead at 80". CNN/SI. Associated Press. July 3, 2004. Archived from the original on July 10, 2001. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ^ Billson, Marky (March 29, 2021). "Remembering Bob Cifers". Medium. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ "1944 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ "Bob Cifers Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.