Bob Timberlake

. [cite news|title=Timberlake Cut|publisher=Morning Herald (Hagerstown, Md.)|date=1966-08-30]

In an article concluding that Timberlake may have been the worst placekicker in NFL history, the writer concluded: "Timberlake’s 1-for-15 performance makes him look like a laughingstock. He’s better remembered as one of Michigan’s great quarterbacks, a Rose Bowl hero who might have had what it took to be a fine pro quarterback or running back. It’s a shame he was asked to do what he couldn’t."

Impact on the AFL-NFL merger

Because of Timberlake's poor performance as a kicker in 1965, the Giants signed Buffalo Bills kicker Pete Gogolak in 1966, who was also football's first soccer-style kicker. Previously, kickers kicked the ball straight on instead of at a soccer-style angle, which improved accuracy and is the standard at all levels of football today. [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0DD1530F93BA35752C0A966958260|title=Question Box |accessdate=2008-08-25|date=1990-01-08|publisher=The New York Times Company|work=The New York Times|author=Corio, Ray] This ended a "gentleman's agreement" between the NFL and the AFL in not signing each other's players, and would start a rash of signings that would eventually led to the two leagues merging.fact|date=August 2008

In an NFL Films documentary featuring Timberlake, Steve Sabol called Timberlake the "father of the Super Bowl", because his poor performance indirectly led to the two leagues merging and the Super Bowl being formed.fact|date=August 2008

Life after football

Timberlake went on to become an ordained Presbyterian minister and a hospital administrator at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin,cite web|url=http://media.www.marquettetribune.org/media/storage/paper1130/news/2006/11/07/Viewpoints/Proposed.Amendment.Misses.The.Real.Threats.To.Marriage-2438955.shtml|title=Proposed amendment misses the real threats to marriage|author=Timberlake, Robert|accessdate=2008-01-17|publisher=Marquette Tribune] which is located in city-state|Milwaukee|Wisconsin. In 2003, Timberlake joined the faculty of Marquette University where he teaches courses on community service and faith, and mentors the student Habitat for Humanity chapter.cite web|title=Marquette University Engineering: Making a Difference, pp. 12-14|url=http://www.marquette.edu/engineering/pages/GettingInvolved/files/Final%20Fall%202007%20Magazine.pdf] [cite web|title=Marquette University Habitat for Humanity|url=http://marquettehabitat.homestead.com/Playhouse.html] In 2007, Timberlake said he saw the community service course as "an excellent opportunity to bring along the next generation" to address problems of neighborhood blight, poverty, family disorganization, failure in school, and incarceration for African-American males. He described the problems facing the poor as "a colossal, colossal waste of human life." Timberlake has been a volunteer for several years with Milwaukee's Habitat for Humanity chapter, and one of the courses he teaches at Marquette is called "Decent and Affordable Housing," in which students are instructed in construction methods (and use of power tools), investigate the causes of hyper-segregation, study substandard housing as a social injustice issue, and spend part of the semester at a Habitat for Humanity work site helping to build a house. [cite web|title=Course Description: NEW UCCS Course CEEN 190: Decent and Affordable Housing: How We Get There From Here|url=http://www.marquette.edu/engineering/pages/AllYouNeed/Civil_Environmental/news/documents/CEEN190FlyerforF06.doc] [cite web|title=Ahoya Engineers|url=http://www.marquette.edu/engineering/pages/GettingInvolved/documents/october06.pdf] The course is taught through the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, which has hired Timberlake as an adjunct professor. Timberlake, who is not an engineer by trade, has overseen the construction of eleven garages through the project. [cite web|url=http://www.marquette.edu/magazine/summer07/news-poverty.shtml|title=Escaping poverty|accessdate=2008-01-17|publisher=Marquette University] Timberlake is a proponent of gay marriage.

ee also

*Lists of Michigan Wolverines football passing leaders
*Michigan Wolverines Football All-Americans

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aatimber.htm Profile from Bentley Historical Library]
* [http://www.footballoutsiders.com/print/3699/ Every Stat Tells a Story: The Worst Kicker Ever]
* [http://www.nfl.com/players/bobtimberlake/profile?id=TIM276860 Bob Timberlake] @ [http://www.nfl.com nfl.com]