Former Bengals backup quarterback John Reaves, who set NCAA passing records before his professional career, has been found dead at his home in Tampa.
Reaves, 67, played nine mostly non-descript seasons in the NFL with the Eagles, Bengals, Vikings and Oilers before three solid years in the now-defunct USFL. He later went into coaching, and then real estate.
In the NFL, he never matched the success he had for the University of Florida, where he set the NCAA career mark of 7,581 career passing yards. He also set an SEC record by throwing 56 touchdown passes.
Reaves did all of that shortly after quarterback Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy playing for the Gators.
“All us Gators were sad to hear about the passing of John Reaves,” Spurrier said in a statement. “John was one of the all-time best quarterbacks to play here. That ’69 Gators team — with John and Carlos Alvarez and Tommy Durrance — that came within one game of winning our first SEC championship was one of the really special teams in history of our school.”
A first-team All-American in 1971, Reaves was drafted in the first round by Philadelphia in ‘72, and started seven games as a rookie. He completed just 48.2 percent of his passes that season, throwing seven touchdown passes against 12 interceptions, and never started again for the Eagles.
After the Bengals claimed him off waivers, he played in 28 games from 1975-’78, starting six.
For Cincinnati, he completed 47.5 percent of his passes for 1,546 yards, seven touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
After two seasons out of the NFL, he joined the Houston Oilers for eight games in 1981 and then moved onto the USFL.
Playing for Tampa Bay, Reaves shone in 1984 while playing for Coach Steve Spurrier, a Florida QB predecessor, and led the Bandits to a 14-4-0 record and the USFL playoffs while throwing for 4,092 yards and 28 touchdowns.
In ‘85, he passed for 4,193 yards and 25 touchdowns, again leading the Bandits to the playoffs.
After the demise of the USFL, he appeared in seven games for the NFL’s Buccaneers in 1987.
Current Florida head coach Jim McElwain, speaking at the team’s media day, coached Reaves’ son Stephen at Michigan State and sent his condolences to a family he knew before he became the Gators’ coach.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to that family who’s been through a lot,” McElwaine said. “I don’t think anybody will ever realize how much the Florida Gators truly meant to John Reaves, and my thoughts and prayers are with them.”
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