Determined to remain a part of American football, Dungy promptly landed a job at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota, where he served as an assistant coach in charge of defensive backs. Dungy played a significant role in the Steelers' successful campaign that season, leading the team in interceptions as part of its famed "Steel Curtain" defense.ĭespite his success, Dungy was traded the following season to the San Francisco 49ers before retiring from the NFL a year later after an unsuccessful stint with the New York Giants in which he failed to make the team. The following year, the Steelers went 14-2 during the regular season and went on to win the Super Bowl, defeating the Dallas Cowboys. That year, Dungy became the most recent player as of 2019 to both throw and catch an interception in the same game, a somewhat dubious honor bestowed onto him after the Steelers' two starting quarterbacks, Terry Bradshaw and Mike Kruczek, were both injured.
Though he went undrafted in the 1977 National Football League draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers went on to sign Dungy as a free agent, slotting him in as a backup safety and a special teams starter. After graduating from Parkside High School, Dungy attended the University of Minnesota where he played as a quarterback.
During World War II, Wilbur served as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American aviators in the history of the United States Armed Forces, which was a source of pride for the Dungy family. His father, Wilbur, was a science professor at nearby Jackson College while his mother, Cleomae, taught English literature with a focus on Shakespeare at Jackson High School. Born in Jackson, Michigan on October 6, 1955, Dungy was raised by two teachers, which he credits for the discipline and winning attitude he developed throughout his life. Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life (2007), a memoir by retired American football head coach Tony Dungy co-written by American author and sports attorney Nathan Whitaker, details in broad strokes Dungy's life and career while offering a number of life lessons, rooted in Dungy's devout Christian faith.
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