Weathers played major college football and then had two stints as a pro.
Carl Weathers achieved fame for his roles in the Rocky movies (1976-85). He played former world champion Apollo Creed.
Weathers also played the role of Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore (1996).
Many roles followed. But many fans don’t know that Carl Weathers also played football–and he was a good football player.
Weathers was an all-around athlete as a youth, earning an athletic scholarship to St. Augustine High School, a private school, where he excelled at boxing, football, gymnastics, judo, soccer, and wrestling.
Courtesy Yahoo! Sports
Weathers graduated in 1966 and continued his athletic career as a defensive end for Long Beach City College, later transferring to San Diego State University. He lettered as a linebacker there, helping the 1969 Aztecs go undefeated.
Even though he went undrafted in the 1970 NFL Draft, Weathers signed as a free agent with Oakland. He made the team, playing in seven games that year for the AFC West-winning Raiders. After playing in only one game in 1971, Oakland cut Weathers, and he then migrated north of the border to play for the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League, where he played in 18 games through 1973.
But football wasn’t his lifelong quest. “My first love was acting,” Weathers once told the press. “I went to Sidney Poitier’s films as a kid. I sat in the theater and dreamed of being an actor.” His dream came true.
This is an excellent article. I’m a big fan of Carl Weathers and I grew near Oakland California and a big Raiders fan. I knew Carl played for the Raiders. However, I did not know a lot of the other things. For the size of this article, it was packed with a lot of info! Great job Matthew Paris