TUSAAFSS is proud to have Derrick Gaffney step up into the Head Coach Position. Derrick will help with the ongoing task of helping with Camps and arranging games here in the USA and abroad. Derrick will have a direct role in getting some of the local Quality athletes from his home town of Jacksonville and the rest of Florida.
Derrick Gaffney
College career
Gaffney received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida
in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Doug Dickey's Florida
Gators football team from 1974 to 1977.[3] Memorably, Gaffney caught a
ninety-nine-yard touchdown reception from Cris Collinsworth in the Gators'
48–3 victory over the Rice Owls in 1977, which tied the then-current NCAA
record and remains the longest touchdown pass in Southeastern Conference (SEC)
history.[3] While he was a Florida undergraduate, Gaffney was also a member of
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Professional career
The New York Jets chose Gaffney in the eighth round (197th pick overall) in
the 1978 NFL Draft,[4] and he played for the Jets from 1978 to 1984 and again
in 1987.[5] His single best season was his rookie year in 1978, when he caught
thirty-eight passes for 691 yards.[1] Gaffney started sixty-eight of 100 games
in which he played for the Jets, and finished his NFL career with 156
receptions for 2,613 yards and seven touchdowns.
Florida Gator football family
Gaffney's older brother, Don Gaffney, was the starting quarterback for the
Florida Gators from the middle of the 1973 season through the end of 1975,
and
was the first African-American to become the starter at the quarterback
position for the Gators.
Gaffney is also the father of current Denver Broncos
wide receiver Jabar Gaffney
and the uncle of current Minnesota Vikings
cornerback
cornerback
Lito Sheppard. Both played for the Gators: Jabar Gaffney in 2000
and 2001, and Lito Seppard from 1999 to 2001.
