Ahmad Rashād


Ahmad Rashād is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. He was the fourth overall selection of the 1972 NFL Draft, taken by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Recruited out of high school as a wide receiver by the Oregon Ducks, he moved to the running back position and was named to the 1971 College Football All-America Team at that position. After being drafted by the Cardinals, Rashād went back to wide receiver, and played for the Cardinals for two seasons. After being traded to the Buffalo Bills in 1974, and sitting out the 1975 season with a knee injury, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks before the 1976 season, who traded him shortly thereafter to the Minnesota Vikings, where he earned four Pro Bowl selections from 1978 to 1981.
Following his retirement from football, Rashād transitioned to television, where he worked as a studio analyst, game reporter, and anchor for several sports, notably hosting the National Basketball Association weekly digest shows NBA Inside Stuff and NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad. He has appeared as a fictionalized version of himself as a television sports personality in several films and television shows, and hosted several non-sports related game shows and reality television shows.

Early life

Born Robert Earl Moore in 1949 in Portland, Oregon, he played high school football in Tacoma, Washington. Rashād graduated from Mount Tahoma High School and accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Oregon in Eugene. He played football for the Ducks under head coach Jerry Frei, became a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, and majored in elementary education at Oregon.
During his junior year in college, Rashād had legal issues in Portland, and was charged with felony theft in November 1970. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, a misdemeanor, in early 1971.
In 1972, Rashād converted from Pentecostalism to Islam. He had started to study Islam in college. A year later, Bobby Moore legally changed his name to Ahmad Rashād, which means "admirable one led to truth" in Arabic. He adopted his last name from his Egyptian-American mentor, biochemist Rashad Khalifa, with whom he studied Arabic. Khalifa was assassinated in 1990.

Football career

At Oregon, Rashād played wide receiver and wingback as a sophomore in 1969 and made the all-conference team. He moved to running back, where he was an All-America in 1971 — in the same backfield with quarterback Dan Fouts. Rashād was named to the College Football Hall of Fame on May 9, 2007.
Rashād was the fourth player selected in the 1972 NFL Draft, taken by the St. Louis Cardinals. He made the UPI all-rookie team in 1972, but second-year head coach Bob Hollway was fired after a 4-9-1 season. Don Coryell was the new head coach in 1973, and Rashād was traded after that season to the Buffalo Bills for backup quarterback Dennis Shaw. In Buffalo, he roomed on the road with O. J. Simpson in 1974, but missed the 1975 season after a knee injury in the final pre-season game.
Rashād was in the training camp of the expansion Seattle Seahawks, after signing as a free agent, then was traded days before the start of the 1976 regular season, sent to the Minnesota Vikings for a future draft pick. He originally failed the Vikings' physical, but was kept on the team due to the actions of quarterback Fran Tarkenton. The Vikings made it back to the Super Bowl that season, their last appearance to date.
During his professional football career, Rashād caught 495 passes for 6,831 yards and 44 touchdowns, while also rushing for 52 yards. The standout catch of his career came in a December 1980 game against the Cleveland Browns. Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer threw a Hail Mary pass to Rashād that resulted in a come-from-behind 28-23 victory and a Central Division title for the Vikings. This became known as "The Miracle at the Met", or, alternatively, "The Miracle Catch". Rashād also has the distinction of the longest play from scrimmage that didn't score a touchdown: 98 yards in a 1972 game against the Rams.
Rashād replaced the same receiver, John Gilliam, in both St. Louis and Minnesota.

Broadcasting and television career

After his football career, Rashād covered NFL, NBA, and MLB televised contests as a studio anchor and game reporter for NBC and ABC, as well as hosting NBA Inside Stuff for 16 seasons. He also has hosted the video-clip show Real TV in 2000, the reality show Celebrity Mole, the game show Caesars Challenge along with co-host Dan Doherty, and NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad on the ABC network.
He starred in an episode of Monsters. Rashād has also guest starred on several TV shows, mainly ones that starred his then-wife Phylicia. In 1988, he filled in for Robb Weller on the weekend edition of Entertainment Tonight. He used to interview long-time friend Michael Jordan frequently while he was at NBC. In early 2013, he became a panelist on the daily talk show Morning Drive on the Golf Channel, but left that summer. Rashād has narrated the yearly highlight films for NBA championship teams since 2012.

Personal life

Rashād has been married five times and divorced four. In 1969, he married his first wife Deidre Waters. They had a daughter, Keva, born in 1970. He also has a son, Sean, born in 1970.
In 1976, he married his second wife, Matilda Johnson. They had two children, daughter Maiyisha and son Ahmad Jr.. They divorced in 1979.
In 1985, Rashād married actress Phylicia Ayers-Allen, known for her work on The Cosby Show. He proposed to her earlier that year on national television during the pregame show of NBC's broadcast of the Thanksgiving Day football game, between the Detroit Lions and the New York Jets. It was the third marriage for each of them. Unlike many actresses, Phylicia took her husband's surname. She has kept the name "Phylicia Rashād" as her professional one since their divorce. Out of this marriage, he gained a stepson Billy Bowles. After a year of marriage, they had a daughter, Condola Phylea Rashād, named after his mother. In 2001, after nearly sixteen years of marriage, they divorced.
In 2005, he met his first biological son Geoffery Simmons through Amara. Geoffery was put up for adoption in 1967 by Rashad‘s high school girlfriend, Melody Neal. Neal died from cancer in 1991.
In 2007, Rashād wed his fourth wife, Sale Johnson. He gained three stepdaughters from this marriage: Casey Johnson, Jamie Johnson, and Daisy Johnson. After Casey's death, they adopted Sale Johnson's granddaughter, Ava-Monroe. They divorced in 2013.
In 2016, he married Ana Luz Rodriguez-Paz, a psychologist in South Florida.