Jim Hart (American football)
James Warren Hart (born April 29, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1966 through 1983 and the Washington Redskins in 1984. Early life Hart was raised just outside Chicago for the first few years of his life, until his father died when he was seven. His mother remarried, and Hart's stepfather encouraged him to play sports. He started playing football as a quarterback at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois; he also lettered in basketball for three years and played baseball. College career Hart received a football scholarship to play for the Southern Illinois Salukis from 1963 through 1965. After no team picked him in the 1966 NFL Draft, Hart's former coach Don Shroyer invited him to a tryout with the Cardinals. He impressed the team and was signed soon after. College career statistics NFL career Hart played in relief of Terry Nofsinger in the final game of the 1966 season on December 17 for the Cardinals (who had lost Charley Johnson, who was fulfilling an ROTC commitment), and he completed four of 11 passes for 29 yards in a 38–10 loss to Cleveland. In the 1967 season, Hart started all 14 games, going 6–7–1 while throwing for 3,008 yards with 19 touchdowns and 30 interceptions on a 48.4 completion percentage. Both his yards and interceptions would prove to be career highs. The following year, he and the team improved slightly, with him going 8–3–1 in the 12 games he started (with Johnson starting two games), throwing for 2,059 yards with 15 touchdowns to 18 interceptions on a 44.3 completion percentage. Hart split time with Johnson for the 1969 season, playing in nine games while starting five (with Johnson starting the other nine), and he went 2–3 with 1,086 yards for six touchdowns and 12 interceptions on a 49.7 completion percentage, although the team won just four games for the first time since 1962. These early career teams were mediocre at best (31–33–5 in his first seven years), but the hire of coach Don Coryell in 1973 turned things around. From 1974 to 1976, he guided the Cardinals to three straight ten-plus-win seasons along with back-to-back NFC East crowns in 1974 and 1975, leading the "Cardiac Cards" to ten game-winning drives during that three-year span. The Cardinals played their first playoff game in 26 years with the matchup in Minnesota on December 21, 1974 with Hart leading the Cardinals to the first score of the game on a pass from 13 yards to Earl Thomas in the second quarter. Although they were tied at halftime, it did not last, as the Vikings would roll to a 30–14 victory on 23 points in the second half. Hart would throw 18-of-40 for 200 yards with a touchdown and an interception while being sacked twice. For the matchup in the 1975 playoffs, they faced the Los Angeles Rams. Hart's early struggles would prove to