Bob Lee may have thrown only 730 passes in his NFL career (Philip Rivers threw 661 last season for San Diego and completed 437) but stayed in the league for 14 years, playing for three Super Bowl teams, two head coaches that are in the NFL Hall of Fame as well as leading the Falcons to one of their best wins ever in a Monday night game in 1973. Oh, and by the way he played with O.J. Simpson in junior college.
Robert Melville Lee grew up in sports. His father Paul was the news editor of the San Francisco bureau for the Associated Press and started taking Lee to 49ers games at old Kezar Stadium when he was five. As he got older he would help out the sports writers in the bureau, serving as a dressing-room reporter and running quotes back to the press box.
Immediately, Lee knew he wanted to be a quarterback, but at the age of 10 he underwent a serious surgery on his sinus where he could have lost his left eye, but Dr. William T. Duggan performed a new procedure which worked brilliantly and he was still able to play sports.
Lee then went to Lowell High School, a place with a heavy emphasis on academics and liberal arts. He played on the junior varsity team that won a city championship, but his coach felt strongly about starting seniors so as a junior he spent most of his time as the punter. Lee did have a very good senior season as the starting quarterback, where he was nicknamed “The General” (as in Gen. Robert E. Lee) and while he was also very adept at baseball, he chose to go to Arizona State to play football in 1964.
It didn’t work as Sun Devils coach Frank Kush tried to turn him into a defensive back, and Lee transferred to the City College of San Francisco, where he became a starter midway through the season and Simpson was in his backfield.
Simpson then left for USC while Lee decided to go to Pacific. Lee had two years of eligibility left and began his first season as the punter and became the starting quarterback during the third game.
In his two seasons (1966-67), Pacific was 4-7 and 4-5, and Lee threw for 2,340 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for 10 scores.
In 1968, Lee was taken in the last round of the draft by the Vikings (441st player chosen) and what would be Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant. While the Vikings had traded Fran Tarkenton to the New York Giants after the 1966 season, the Vikings had brought in veteran Joe Capp and had Gary Cuozzo, so Lee spent his rookie season on the taxi squad and his second as the third-string quarterback and punter. But the team went to Super Bowl IIII, losing to Kansas City.
Lee moved to No. 2 on the depth chart in 1970 behind Cuozzo and started two games, winning both of them, including the division-winning victory over Chicago. The next year, he had to split time with Cuozzo and Norm Snead, but won three of his four starts. The following season, the Vikings brought back Tarkenton and Lee threw just six passes in 1972.
Then Falcons coach and Hall of Famer Norm Van Brocklin made a trade for Lee, bringing him and linebacker Lonnie Warwick to Atlanta for quarterback Bob Berry and a first-round draft pick.
Lee sat on the bench the first three games, finally getting his shot in the fourth game with the Falcons trailing 10-0 against the 49ers. San Francisco won 13-9, but Lee put a spark into a team that would win seven consecutive games, including an exciting 20-14 win over the Vikings and Tarkenton on “Monday Night Football.”
While it appeared they were headed for the playoffs, Lee and Falcons lost to Buffalo and Simpson and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and there was no postseason. They beat New Orleans in the season finale to finish 9-5, the franchise’s best season to that point. Lee was 8-2 in his starts and threw for 1,786 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was named team MVP.
But the next season the players went on strike, ending it just before the regular season started. Lee and the Falcons struggled. He started nine games, winning only two and throwing 14 interceptions in 172 attempts. Van Brocklin was fired during the season and after the dust settled, Lee found himself back in Minnesota, the team clearing the way for Steve Bartkowski.
A backup again, he stayed with the Vikings four seasons but made a trip to Super Bowl XI, losing to Oakland.
Lee was then sent to the Los Angeles Rams in 1979, again as a backup. After the 1980 season, he needed surgery in his flexor tendon in his throwing elbow. Lee had to sit out a season because of the elbow. He rested another year and tried to come back in 1983, but the Rams said no and he retired.
Meanwhile, Lee had picked up his real estate brokers license in the mid-1970s and went into the business full-time, while he also did a few years on television as a network analyst for NFL and college games.
Then he was hired to be the play-by-play radio announcer for Pacific in 1991, but before the season started they also asked him to return to his alma mater as the athletics director. He also did the radio gig for one year and the AD job until 1996.
Where he lives: Lee and his wife of 46 years, Janice, reside in the middle of San Francisco, They have very successful children. His youngest son, Zac, was the starting quarterback for Nebraska in the 2009 season. His oldest, Jenna, is an anchor on the Fox News Channel and his other son, Matt, is a chef.
What he does now: Lee, less than three weeks away from turning 70, continues to work in real estate and travels to see his older children. He even has appeared with Jenna on her "Happening Now'' show about Deflate-gate.
On his father getting him into the 49ers games when he was young: "My father was not a sports guy. My mother was the big football fan, but my father saw I was interested in it and liked it. I was really into the games and those interviews. I interviewed every coach that came through San Francisco from age 12 until 22 … (Vince) Lombardi, (George) Halas, you name them. My father always told me not to be scared to ask the tough question.''
On his decision to play football at Arizona State: "It wasn't good. Funny thing is I played baseball briefly as a freshman and Reggie Jackson was a year behind me. Reggie actually came to play football but hurt his knee and stuck to baseball. Reggie was some kind of football player. But I had to get out of there. I had a good spring game, going 11-for-12, and came in and Frank Kush told me I was moving to defensive back. I told him about how I did in the spring game, and he said I don't remember that. I knew it was time to leave.''
On playing with Simpson in junior college: "He was a good teammate in junior college. My brother had played against him in high school and told me he was the fastest guy on the field. He also wasn't afraid to block someone or do something a good teammate does. He did some amazing things in junior college, and when he went to USC it didn't surprise me how good he became.''
On going to the Falcons: "It was the offseason and my attorney got a call from Van Brocklin. He said can you fly down there, and I think I flew into Atlanta that night. Norm had two homes and I stayed with him in the one in north Atlanta. The next day the Falcons and Vikings did a deal. I really enjoyed Atlanta. That 1973 season was special and that Monday night win was the biggest in franchise history to that point. It was a shame we lost those two games, but we really had a good overall team. We had a good defense and good kickers in John James and Nick Mike-Mayer.''
On Van Brocklin: "I saw him play when I was very young. He was a great player, and I think as a coach he took on two difficult situations in Atlanta and Minnesota. He could be the funniest guy you ever met, but he could do a 180-degree turn on you. We had our moments, but he gave me my chance to start.''
On Tarkenton: "I got to watch him for five years, and I always thought of any player I saw, he got the maximum out of his talent. He knew his strengths, and he also knew his opponents' strengths. He just made it work.''
On Grant: "He would be straight with you if you went in to meet with him. He did a great job with his staff and hired really good people and let them do their jobs. I remember he let me take a projector home every night the first two years. He also didn't beat us to death in practice. I lot of people also don't know that he was a tremendous practical joker.''
On his career: "You start out in the 17th round, you have to go out and earn it every day. I played behind some really good quarterbacks, including a Hall of Famer in Minnesota. But I knew I could play. I meet a lot of very good people, saw a lot of great games when I was on the sidelines and participated in some great ones. I loved it.''
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