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© 2025 COLD WIRE MEDIA. THE COLD WIRE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COLD WIRE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USE OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

The Life And Career Of Ron Jaworski

Ben Donahue
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The Life And Career Of Ron Jaworski
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

 

In the NFL, sometimes it’s not the awards or accolades a player receives that make him memorable.

For some players, they are best remembered for their personality, determination, leadership, or all three characteristics in one.

Ron Jaworski was one such athlete.

During a 17-year NFL career, Jaworski was honored as the NFC Offensive Player of the Year and voted to the Pro Bowl, both in 1980.

Surprisingly, given his pro football longevity, those two awards would be the only recognition Jaworski would receive in his career.

However, the quarterback was best known for his leadership and timely playmaking while leading the 1980 Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl XV.

Jaworski’s strong right arm and fun-loving personality also led to the nicknames “Polish Rifle” and “Jaws.”

Since his retirement in 1990 following a season with Kansas City, Jaworski has been plenty busy wearing many hats, including ESPN analyst, Arena Football team co-owner, CEO of his own golf company, and motivational speaker.

This is the story of Ron Jaworski.

 

Lackawanna Star

Ronald (Ron) Vincent Jaworski was born on March 23, 1951, in Lackawanna, New York, just a few miles south of Buffalo.

Western New York is known for its notable athletes and the steel industry, and the Jaworski family was heavily invested in both.

While growing up, Jaworski’s father, Bill, worked in the nearby Bethlehem Steel plant, giving Ron a first-hand look at the possible future he faced.

To give his son a look at the life of a steelworker, Bill had Ron work at Bethlehem for a summer, pounding away at crooked steel rods until they were straight.

The teen lasted three weeks before Bill allowed him to quit, knowing that Ron got the point.

Jaworski used that experience to fuel him while attending Lackawanna High School.

While applying himself in the classroom, Jaworski became a three-sport athlete, playing quarterback, defensive back, and catcher for the Steelers, while also playing multiple positions for the school’s basketball team.

In 1967, he was the backup quarterback and starting defensive back for Lackawanna High as the team went undefeated on the way to a state championship.

The following year, Jaworski was the starter and showed no regard for his personal safety while charging head-first for yardage and displaying a rocket arm when throwing to his receivers.

 

Youngstown State

In the spring of his senior year, Jaworski was torn.

He loved playing catcher for the Steelers and wanted to be a Major League Baseball player.

But he also enjoyed leading his teammates as a quarterback, and Jaworski believed his athletic future would be playing on the gridiron.

Some colleges offered Jaworski basketball and baseball scholarships.

Others, including Syracuse, Boston College, and Georgia Tech, offered the kid a football scholarship.

While mulling the offers, Jaworski received a visit from Youngstown State (Ohio) head coach Dwight “Dike” Beede (known as the father of the penalty flag) with a notable recruiting pitch.

”He told me that at Youngstown State they threw the ball 30 times a game,” recalled Jaworski in 1981. ”I said, ‘Where do I sign?’”

 

Leading the Penguins

Jaworski was a member of the Penguins in 1969 when the program wore the decal “100” on their helmets in honor of the first-ever college football game between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869.

Unfortunately, the backup quarterback could do little to avoid a 2-6 record.

The 1970 team actually did worse, going 0-9 with Jaworski now entrenched full-time under center.

In 1971, Jaworski threw sizzling passes and hustled for yardage, but the most victories the Penguins could muster were two.

Beede’s team improved slightly in 1972 with a 4-4-1 record as Jaworski ran the coach’s “side-saddle” T formation to perfection, setting a number of school records.

They include most career pass completions (325), single-season passing yards (2,123), career passing yards (4,612), and single-season passing touchdowns (18).

Some of his stats as a senior in 1972 were fifth-best in the country, and Jaworski was chosen for the Ohio Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl, where he played well enough to get the attention of NFL scouts.

 

The Rams Draft the “Polish Rifle”

St. Louis Rams helmet sits on the bench
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

 

In the 1973 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills had two first-round picks and could have brought Jaworski home.

Instead, the organization went with a tight end and then guard Joe DeLamielleure (who would become a Hall of Famer).

Then, with the 37th overall pick in the second round, the LA Rams selected Jaworski (Buffalo drafted QB Joe Ferguson in the third round).

When Jaworski was slinging bullets to his teammates at Youngstown, the school’s sports information director dubbed him “Ron Rifle.”

A Los Angeles sports writer, Bud Farillo, announced the selection to locals by typing “Rams Draft a Polish Rifle,” noting both Jaworski’s ethnicity and arm strength in the same headline.

The “Polish Rifle” nickname stuck, and Jaworski loved it.

“Nicknames are fun. Besides, I’m not ashamed to be Polish,” he said in 1975.

Jaworski reported to the Rams for training camp in 1973 and found competition at the quarterback position.

Already in place were veterans John Hadl and James “Shack” Harris.

Head coach Chuck Knox put the rookie at third string, and that’s pretty much where Jaworski stayed for the next few years.

He posted zero stats in ‘73 and saw action in five games in 1974.

 

An Opportunity

The 1975 season was more of the same for Jaworski as he sat behind Harris for the majority of the year.

In Week 13, Harris was injured, and Coach Knox made Jaworski the starter against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final game.

He played well enough to help the Rams win, 10-3.

A week later, LA met the St. Louis Cardinals in the divisional round with Jaworski still under center.

Directing the offense as if he were a grizzled veteran, Jaworski ran for a score and threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to receiver Harold Jackson in a 35-23 victory.

Knox then made the questionable call to name Harris as the starter for the NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys.

America’s Team rattled Harris for most of the game before Knox decided to pull him for Jaworski.

By then it was too late, and the Cowboys left Southern California with an easy 37-7 blowout win.

 

Leaving LA

LA’s loss to Dallas in the NFC title game didn’t sit well with Jaworski, who felt he was the better QB and could have made a difference against the Cowboys (although he threw two interceptions that day).

Before the 1976 season, the Rams signed former USC quarterback Pat Haden to compete with Jaworski and Harris.

The organization then offered Jaworski a five-year $700,000 contract to extend his stay.

Not wanting to play second or third fiddle any longer, the signal-caller made the controversial decision to play his final contracted season with the Rams for the paltry sum of $29,700.

He did so in order to become available to teams who needed a QB in 1977.

While the 1976 season progressed, Jaworski, Haden, and Harris all played and were all injured, although they did just enough to reach 10 wins.

At one point during the year, Jaworski cemented his eventual departure from the City of Angels when he chucked a beer bottle in the direction of Don Klosterman, the Rams’ general manager.

According to those present, the GM derogatorily commented on Jaworski’s accuracy on the field, and the QB responded in kind.

When the Rams’ season ended with a 24-13 loss to Minnesota in the NFC Championship game, LA traded Jaworski to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for tight end Charlie Young.

 

Making a Name for Himself

American Football on Field

 

Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil needed a franchise quarterback.

He had joined Philadelphia in 1976, and a 4-10 season followed.

Vermeil had Roman Gabriel (who had, coincidentally, also come over from the Rams in 1972), but the coach didn’t believe he could get the Eagles over the hump.

Jaworski was more than ready to leave LA for a fresh start.

“I’m a shot-and-a-beer guy, and that was a martini town,” recalled Ron.

By the end of training camp in 1977, Vermeil named Jaworski the starter.

”They brought me to Philadelphia to play,” said Jaworski in 1981. ”Coach said, ‘Ron, get in there and play.”’

In Jaworski’s first full year as a starter, he passed for 2,183 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions, and rushed for a career-best five touchdowns while the Eagles went 5-9.

A year later, Philly had Jaworski under center, Wilbert Montgomery in the backfield, Harold Carmichael playing receiver, and local hero Vince Papale playing special teams.

The Eagles started 0-2 in 1978 but course-corrected and ended the year 9-7 before losing to the Atlanta Falcons in the wild card round.

It was Philly’s first time in the playoffs since winning the NFL title in 1960.

Jaworski threw for 2,487 yards, 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for the year.

 

“Jaws”

When he moved to Philadelphia, Jaworski met one of his neighbors, then-76ers player Doug Collins.

The two became quick friends, and it was then that Collins gave his friend a new moniker, “Jaws.”

It wasn’t so much that the movie with the same name had been released a few years earlier, or the fact that Jaworski’s surname began with “Jaw.”

Collins gave the nickname because Jaworski had a gift of gab.

“…so everybody thought he was comparing me to the shark in the movie. But it was actually because I never shut up. My jaws were always flapping,” said Jaworski in a 2018 interview.

In 1979, Jaws led the Eagles to an 11-5 record while passing for 2,669 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 12 picks.

Philly won its first playoff game since 1960 when Jaworski threw three touchdown passes in a 27-17 defeat of the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round.

Just when it looked like the team was on the cusp of an extended playoff run, the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers upset the Eagles in the divisional round, 24-17, despite two Jaworski touchdown passes.

 

1980

In 1980, Philly fans were excited about their Eagles.

For the first time in decades, the team was good and had a roster that could take the franchise to the top.

The Eagles jumped out to an 11-1 start before finishing the regular season with a 12-4 record.

Jaws didn’t miss a beat while starting every game and was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL that season.

He threw for 3,529 yards and 27 touchdowns (both career-highs) and 12 picks.

For the first time in his NFL career, Jaworski was honored by his peers by being named the NFC Offensive Player of the Year and getting voted to the Pro Bowl.

In the divisional round, the QB threw a touchdown and managed the game well in a 31-16 victory over Minnesota.

Up next was division rival Dallas, a team that Philly had consistently struggled with.

The Cowboys may have been favored, but the NFC Championship was in Philadelphia, and the rabid fans were in full throat all day.

Dallas’ Doomsday defense kept Jaworski in check with just 91 passing yards.

However, the Eagles defense, led by linebacker Bill Bergey and defensive back Herm Edwards, battered the potent Cowboys offense and advanced with a triumphant 20-7 win.

“We’re not America’s Team,” Ron told reporters after the game, referring to the Cowboys’ nickname. “We’re the Pope’s team.”

(The quarterback had received a papal medal from Pope John Paul II that season for divine protection).

 

Super Bowl XV

super bowl

 

In hindsight, the Eagles played their best football that season against the Cowboys in a franchise-defining victory.

The problem was, Philly couldn’t seem to sustain that hunger two weeks later against the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV.

On paper, the Eagles appeared to be a slightly better team than the 11-5 Raiders and were listed as three-point favorites by oddsmakers.

Then the game began, and all bets were off.

Oakland jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Eagles answered with a Tony Franklin field goal to put the halftime score at 14-3.

When the second half began, the Silver-and-Black continued its onslaught by adding 10 more points before Jaworski spied tight end Keith Krepfle for an eight-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Raiders added another field goal before closing out a 27-10 win.

During the contest, Jaworski passed for 291 yards and a touchdown, but also threw three costly interceptions.

“Maybe we would’ve been a little more pointed in our approach,” commented Jaworski in 2014. “Not that we weren’t prepared, not that we weren’t ready, but because we were such a goal-driven team I think there was almost a feeling that after we beat Dallas or the NFC championship game on a cold, windy day in Philadelphia where the temperatures were 15 below as a wind chill factor, maybe there was a feeling that we had already accomplished our goal when we really hadn’t.”

 

Huge Effort, Disappointing Results

In 1981, Jaworski went over the 3,000-yard passing mark again with 23 touchdowns, but 20 picks.

Philly went 10-6, then lost to the New York Giants in the wild-card round.

The 1982 season was marked by a players’ strike that reduced the regular season to nine games.

Despite 2,076 yards and 20 touchdowns by Jaws, his 20 interceptions didn’t help, and the Eagles finished 3-6.

Shortly after the season, Vermeil retired, citing burnout.

Marion Campbell was hired in 1983, and the Eagles went 5-11 as Jaworski passed for 3,315 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions.

After passing for 2,754 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions through the first 13+ games of 1984, Jaws tore ligaments in his ankle against the St. Louis Cardinals in Week 13, sidelining him for the remainder of the Eagles’ 6-9-1 season.

Before losing the final three games because of his ankle, the quarterback had set an NFL record for the position with 116 consecutive starts.

The mark wouldn’t be broken until 1999.

In 1985, Jaworski was limited to 12 starts and passed for 3,450 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions.

During a Week 10 game against Atlanta, the Eagles were backed up to their own one-yard line.

Number 17 took a snap, saw receiver Mike Quick at the 20-yard line, and zipped him a pass.

Quick then sprinted to the end zone for a 99-yard touchdown.

The score tied an NFL mark with 13 other QB/Receiver combinations.

 

Jaws Leaves Philly

In the spring of 1986, former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was named the Eagles’ new coach.

Ryan initially toyed with the idea of starting Matt Cavanaugh, the former Patriot and 49ers quarterback the team signed in the offseason.

Instead, he stuck with Jaworski.

Jaws started nine games and passed for 1,405 yards, eight touchdowns, and six picks before a finger injury ended his season.

Backup Randall Cunningham took over for the remainder of the year and would soon become the team’s new savior.

When the 5-10-1 season ended, Jaworski was released by the Eagles with a career record with the franchise of 69-67-1 and a host of team records.

In August 1987, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula reached out and signed Jaworski to be a backup to Dan Marino.

The Polish Rifle didn’t play a down that season and received only a handful of snaps in 1988 before getting released.

 

Retirement

retirement

 

Although he was now a 38-year-old has-been QB, Jaworski wasn’t quite ready to hang up his cleats in 1989.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer found a place for him, backing up Steve DeBerg.

When DeBerg began the year 1-2, Schottenheimer benched him in favor of Jaworski.

He, too, went 1-2 as the starter but sprained his knee against the Raiders in Week 6 and never played again.

The Chiefs missed the playoffs, and Jaworski saw the writing on the wall and retired weeks later.

During his 17-year career, the Polish Rifle passed for 28,190 yards, 179 touchdowns, and 164 interceptions while accumulating 859 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing.

He was a Pro Bowler once and named the NFC Offensive Player of the Year in 1980 while leading Philly to Super Bowl XV.

Currently, Jaworski is second to Donovan McNabb on the Eagles’ all-time list in career passing yards and passing touchdowns.

Jaworski is a member of the Eagles’ Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, Youngstown State Athletics Hall of Fame, the National Polish-American Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Quarterback Club Hall of Fame.

 

No Slowing Down in Retirement

When Jaworski left pro football, he didn’t waste any time starting the next chapter of his life.

Months after retiring, ESPN hired the former QB to be an analyst, and he spent well over two decades with the sports giant.

While employed at ESPN, Jaworski was widely known for his ability to break down plays and regale audiences with his knowledge of the game, candor, and affability.

As if he wasn’t busy enough as a broadcaster, Jaworski also became the CEO of a company that runs eight golf courses in three states, and the company has also managed hotels, sports stores, a Gold’s Gym, and a telecommunications company.

In 2003, he joined forces with rockers Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi as owners of the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football Team.

The franchise won three Arena Bowls during his tenure.

Jaworski also helped start the Albany (New York) Empire and Atlantic City Blackjacks of the Arena League before the entire league folded after the 2019 season.

Although he is busy as a CEO, Jaws carves out time as a board member for several organizations and is a motivational speaker.

Jaworski and his wife, Liz, met in high school and have been married for over half a century.

The couple has three children and seven grandchildren.

 

References

njhalloffame.org

https://www.nytimes.com

https://ysusports.com

https://ampoleagle.com

https://ysusports.com

https://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com

https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com

https://www.phillymag.com

polishsportshof.com

https://www.npr.org

buffalosportshalloffame.com

https://www.phillymag.com

ronjaworskigolf.com

https://www.nytimes.com

https://www.pro-football-reference.com

ronjaworski.com

NEXT:  The Life And Career Of Bill Bergey

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Ben Donahue
Contributor at Pro Football History
Over 25 years of experience in sports including coach, athletic director, game day operations, media relations, football operations, and scout. He is [...]

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