Former Bears, Penn State punter/tight end Bob Parsons passes away

Former Chicago Bears punter and tight end Bob Parsons has passed away, the team announced on Tuesday afternoon. He played his entire 12-year career with Chicago after being selected in the fifth round of the 1972 NFL Draft.

Parsons only made 11 starts at the tight end position, with 10 of them coming during the 1975 season. Overall, he finished with 19 receptions for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Although he got snaps on the offensive side of the ball, tight end was far from Parsons’ best position.

Spending most of his time as a punter, Parsons was one of the NFL’s best throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. During the 1981 and 1982 seasons, he led the league in punts and punt yardage. In fact, he still holds the NFL record for the most punts in a year with Chad Stanley, firing off 114 punts during the 1981 season.

Parsons also holds the franchise record of 884 total punts and averaged 38.7 yards per kick for the Bears.

After more than a decade in the NFL, Parsons wrapped up his football career in the USFL, playing for the Birmingham Stallions. There, he was mostly a punter but as the league started to catch heat from the NFL, Parsons decided to call it quits and retire from professional football.

Penn State is where Parsons played his college football and his two-way talent made him good enough to be selected in the draft by Chicago.

During his time in Happy Valley, Parsons was coached by Joe Paterno. Originally starting his career at quarterback, Paterson decided to move Parsons to tight end after struggling during the 1970 season. As we all know, the move ended up working out and he was able to have a successful career in the NFL.