Triple-threat man

As injury awareness grew and substitution rules loosened, teams shifted to kicking specialists, which made the triple-threat man obsolete.

[1] Danny White of the Dallas Cowboys was the last non-specialist to kick on a regular basis, as he served as the team's starting quarterback and punter from 1980 until 1984, after several years as backup to Roger Staubach.

For over forty years the NFL single-season scoring record was held by a triple-threat man, Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Paul Hornung.

Saint Louis University's Bradbury Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass in football history in 1906, was undoubtedly[citation needed] the first "triple-threat man".

[citation needed] He was the Blue and White's premier passer, and sportswriters of the era reported that he "excelled" as a kicker and was an "electrifying" runner.

[9][10] As an outstanding runner and Yale's kicking specialist during his career,[11] Veeder may have assumed the mantle of "triple threat" that Saturday before a crowd of some 32,000 at New Haven.

The development of a true triple-threat man among the Eastern powers awaited their adoption of the forward pass as it had been pioneered at Saint Louis.

Knute Rockne, who popularized the forward pass at Notre Dame in the mid-1910s, observed, “One would have thought that so effective a play would have been instantly copied and become the vogue.