Back in 1984, Steve Young was a fresh-faced young man out of BYU who was heading out into the real world of debauchery that is the life of a professional football player. After a year in the USFL, the future Hall of Famer was the first player picked in the NFL's supplemental draft, which meant he had to go play for the awful Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But despite all the losing that Young and Bucs did during his rookie year—they finished 2-14—Young was apparently still one of the NFL's most eligible bachelors. He was such a catch that, according to Young's upcoming book, QB: My Life Behind the Spiral, which Peter King excerpted in his MMQB column on Monday, a referee once pulled him out of a huddle in the middle of a game to ask if he would take his daughter, a BYU student, on a date.
You can read the excerpt from Young's book here:
Even on the field, I can’t escape the craziness. We play the Colts at home. Partway through the second quarter I’m in the huddle when the head referee taps me on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he says. I step away from the huddle. "Hey, listen, my daughter’s going to BYU," he whispers. Next thing I know he starts trying to convince me that I should meet his daughter. "I'd like you to take her out," he says.
A date proposal during a game and a gratuitous call on the field? That ref was really pushing hard for Young to become a part of his family. Ultimately, it was fruitless for both the ref and Young, as it doesn't sound like Young took the guy's daughter out on a date and his team still lost that game 31-23. But on the plus side, it should help Young sell some books 30 years later, so consider it a win.
