Sonny Jurgensen, 1934-2026

Who led the NFL in touchdown passes in the 1960s? It wasn't Johnny Unitas, or Bart Starr, or Joe Namath, or Fran Tarkenton. It was Sonny Jurgensen.

Christian Adolph Jurgensen III was born on August 23, 1934 in Wilmington, North Carolina. He starred in football, baseball and basketball at New Hanover High School. Other notable alumni include fellow NFL stars Roman Gabriel, Clyde Simmons and Alge Crumpler; baseball star Trot Nixon; and TV journalist David Brinkley.

"Sonny" was chosen to start at quarterback for the North Carolina all-stars in the annual Shrine Bowl against the South Carolina All-Stars in Charlotte. He then went to Duke University in Durham, where he was not only a quarterback, but a fine defensive back, and led them to the 1954 ACC title and a win over Nebraska in the 1955 Orange Bowl. It's funny how, with all the great basketball players who have gone to Duke, the school's greatest athlete from the State that they're actually in is a football player.

He became Norm Van Brocklin's backup on the Philadelphia Eagles, winning the 1960 NFL Championship. Van Brocklin retired, and Sonny became the starter in 1961, making the 1st of 5 Pro Bowl teams, leading the NFL in passing yards 5 times and in touchdown passes twice.

In 1964, the Eagles named Joe Kuharich as head coach. Kuharich was a massive prude, and Sonny liked the nightlife, so Joe traded Sonny to the Washington Redskins for their starting quarterback of the time, Norm Snead.

This trade was so dumb! How dumb was it? Over the rest of the decade, the Eagles floundered, while the Redskins got better, eventually becoming the team (albeit quarterbacked by Billy Kilmer, with Sonny as an aging backup) that won the 1972 NFC Championship.

I mentioned that Sonny threw more touchdown passes in the 1960s than any other quarterback. Guess which quarterback threw more interceptions in the 1960s than any other. Did I telegraph the punch enough? It was Norm Snead. And Joe Kuharich traded Sonny for Norm.

It took the Redskins a while to go from terrible to great, and by the time the process was finished, so was Sonny, pretty much. Typical of this period of Washington football was their game against the Giants on November 27, 1966, at District of Columbia Stadium (renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969). The 'Skins scored 72 points, the 2nd-highest total in NFL history. But their defense was so weak, the Giants scored 41. The 113 combined points remains an NFL record. Sonny only threw 16 passes, completing 10, for 145 yards, for 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. But a balanced rushing attack got 209 yards for Washington.

On September 15, 1968, the Redskins beat the Chicago Bears, 38-28 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sonny went 14-for-21 for 276 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. In the 2nd quarter, with the ball on his own 1-yard line, Sonny threw the ball to Gerry Allen, who caught the ball at the Washington 35, and ran the remaining 65 yards. It was a 99-yard touchdown pass, tying an unbreakable NFL record. It was the 5th time it had happened. It has now happened 11 times, although not since 2011, when Eli Manning and Victor Cruz combined for it.

Sonny Jurgensen led the NFL in pass completions 4 times, 5 times in passing yards, 5 times in yards per game, twice in passing touchdowns, made 5 Pro Bowls, and had the highest career "quarterback rating" of any player before the 1978 rule changes that opened up the passing game: 82.6.

Vince Lombardi, who coached the Redskins in the last season of his life, 1969, said, "If we would have had Sonny Jurgensen in Green Bay, we'd never have lost a game." And this is a man who had Bart Starr, the only man to quarterback 5 NFL Championship teams without cheating. Although the thought of Sonny Jurgensen and Paul Hornung playing together on Saturday night before they played together on Sunday afternoon is a scary thought.

Lombardi began the Redskins' resurgence, but he died of cancer in 1970. In 1971, George Allen was named head coach, and Jurgensen should have been his kind of guy, a seasons veteran for Allen's "Over-the-Hill Gang." But injuries struck him, and Billy Kilmer was named the starter. It was Kilmer who led them to the Playoffs in 1971, and to the NFC Championship in 1972. Jurgensen did not play in Super Bowl VII, and the Redskins lost to the Miami Dolphins.

It was the NFL's 1st real quarterback controversy since Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield on the early 1950s Los Angeles Rams. Just as with the Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris home run record chase in 1961, fans took sides, putting "I Love Billy" or "I Love Sonny" bumper stickers on their vehicles. The defensive-minded Allen preferred Kilmer's conservative, ball-control style of play to Jurgensen's more high-risk approach. Despite the controversy, Jurgensen was helpful to his rival. Even until his death, Kilmer still stayed at Jurgensen's house when he was in town.

In 1974, at the age of 40 and in his final season, Jurgensen won his 3rd NFL passing crown, even though he was still splitting time with Kilmer. In the final game of his NFL career, Jurgensen made his 1st and only appearance as a quarterback in an NFL postseason game, in the Redskins' 19–10 loss to the Rams in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs. He came off the bench in relief of Kilmer, and completed 6 of 12 passes, but also threw 3 interceptions.

Sonny was named to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, the Duke Sports Hall of Fame, the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team, the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame and the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame. In 1975, just after he retired, he and Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff formed a beloved broadcasting team for the Redskins. Sam retired from this role in after the 2012 season, Sonny after 2018.

For most of their history, the team now known as the Washington Commanders did not officially retire uniform numbers, with Sammy Baugh's 33 being the lone exception. But Sonny Jurgensen's Number 9 has only been given out once since he retired after the 1974 season.

That was in 2002, by new head coach Steve Spurrier, to one of his former University of Florida quarterbacks, Shane Matthews. He also gave Number 7, worn by Joe Theismann, to another of his Florida quarterbacks, Danny Wuerffel. Redskin fans were so angry that, before the regular season started, Spurrier got the message, and switched Wuerffel to 17 (which was Kilmer's number, but there was no outcry over that) and Matthews to 6. In 2022, at the age of 88, Sonny Jurgensen finally got his Number 9 retired by the Washington Commanders.

He met his 1st wife, Suzanne Long, while they were students at Duke. They had 2 sons, Greg and Scott, before later divorcing. Jurgensen married Margo Hurt in 1967. That couple also had 2 sons, Erik and Gunnar.

Sonny died on February 6, 2026, at 91. That day, on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, co-hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, both former sports columnists for The Washington Post, paid tribute to an old friend. In spite of his not having won a title there (his only title coming as a Philadelphia backup), Tony said, "Sonny Jurgensen could possibly be the most popular pro athlete in Washington, ever." Mike, who had been part of a pregame and postgame show with Sonny in the 1980s, said, "I am honored and humbled to have been able to work with Sonny Jurgensen."

With Sonny's death, there are 6 surviving players from the 1960 NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles: Jerry Reichow, Billy Ray Barnes, Ted Dean, Theron Sapp, J.D. Smith and John Wilcox.