Bobby Beathard, one of the best personnel executives in NFL history, has died at the age of 86.
Beathard was a quarterback and defensive back at Cal Poly (one of his college teammates was John Madden) and had brief training camp stints in Washington and San Diego, but he began to make his mark after his playing career ended and he was hired as a scout for the Chiefs. It was in Kansas City that he won the first of his many championship rings, when the Chiefs won the AFL championship.
After moving on to work in the Falcons’ scouting department, Beathard was then hired away to be the director of player personnel for the Dolphins in 1972. The Dolphins won the Super Bowl in each of Beathard’s first two seasons.
In 1978, Beathard would be hired away as General Manager in Washington, and that’s where he had his greatest success. Beathard was responsible for hiring head coach Joe Gibbs, and for making the draft picks that built a roster that would win three Super Bowls in the years ahead. It’s that tenure that made him a Hall of Famer.
But Beathard wasn’t done when he resigned as Washington’s GM in 1989. In 1990 he became the Chargers’ General Manager, and by 1994 the Chargers were in the Super Bowl. He retired in 2000 and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
He is survived by family including his younger brother, former NFL quarterback Pete Beathard, and his grandson, Jaguars backup quarterback C. J. Beathard.