April 22, 1990 - The 1990 NFL Draft took place in New York City and the first overall pick was by the Indianapolis Colts who chose University of Illinois quarterback Jeff George. As usual we like to highlight the Hall of Fame players that have come out of each Draft class so far when we can. The Pro Football Reference website tells us that Seattle picked Cortez Kennedy with the third pick and San Diego used the fifth overall pick to take Linebacker Junior Seau. The Cowboys had a great day when they chose future NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith with the 17 overall selection while the Denver Broncos might have gotten away with robbery by taking future HOF tight End Shannon Sharpe in the 7th round 192nd pick of the Draft! Just a note but the NFL Drafts were still of the 12 round variety in 1990.
April 22, 1995 - The Cincinnati Bengals held the first pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. For their choice the Bengals chose Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter as the number one pick. According to the Pro Football Reference folks the members of this draft class that have been enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are Tampa bay’s use of selection number 12 to take defensive tackle Warren Sapp of the University of Miami (FL) and then New Englands drafting of Michigan cornerback Ty Law at pick number 23. The Buccaneers turned around and made another brilliant defensive pick taking linebacker Derrick Brooks with selection 28 and the Patriots also double dipped into the future hall of Fame pool by selecting Curtis Martin the running back from Pitt. Denver once again used some late round magic to find Georgia running back Terrell Davis in the 6th round with the 196th overall selection.
The Newspapers.com Headline of the Day has tragic news that was posted on the Boston -Globe for their April 24, 2004 Sports headline that read: “In Time of Need, Cardinal was a Patriot!” for an article written by columnist Bob Ryan.
April, 22, 2004- Arizona Cardinals Safety, Patrick TIllman is killed by gun fire in the war in Afghanistan while on patrol with the U.S. Army Rangers. Ryan’s news clip tells of how Tillman patriotically left a $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to serve his country along with his younger brother Kevin. Tillman just in his act of leaving big money to risk his life for God and country went from being a gridiron star to being a real hero in his quest to preserve freedom! The PatTillmanfundation.org adds that Pat served on multiple tours of duty including in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2004. On the evening of April 22, 2004, Pat’s unit was ambushed as it traveled through the rugged, canyon terrain of eastern Afghanistan. His heroic efforts to provide cover for fellow soldiers as they escaped from the canyon led to his untimely and tragic death via fratricide.
If you want to be able to be able to read through some old articles like the Boston-Globe, you need to check out Newspapers.com. At Newspapers.com, you can get access to over 640 million pages’ worth of news from the US, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and more dating back from 1798 to yesterday. Get a free one week subscription to Newspapers.com by visiting SportsHistoryNetwork.com/newspapers. And with a paid subscription, you’ll also be helping to support the production of this and other Sports History Network shows.
April 22, 2010 - At the 2010 NFL Draft, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford first pick by St. Louis Rams. The Pro Football Reference gives us the following players picked with the second through tenth picks. Ndamukong Suh to Detroit, Gerald McCoy to Tampa, Trent Williams by Washington, KC’s pick of Eric Berry, Russell Okung to Seattle, Joe Haden by Cleveland, Rolando McClain to Oakland, C.J. Spiller by Buffalo and Tyson Alualu for the Jacksonville Jaguars. This was a deep Draft as other names of note in this class are Anthony Davis, Ryan Matthews, Earl Thomas, Jason Pierre-Paul, Mike Iupati, Maurkice Pouncy, Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Tim Tebow, Devin McCourty, Rob Gronkowski, Sean Lee, Golden Tate and many more outstanding players.
