Former NFL running back and college hockey player Fred Willis (Boston College) passed away on July 4 at the age of 75.
A native of Natick, Mass., the same hometown as fellow BC football great Doug Flutie, Willis played one year of varsity hockey at BC, tallying nine goals and 19 points in 24 games during the 1968-69 season as the Eagles went 19-7-0 overall and finished second in the ECAC with a 16-5-0 mark.
It was on the gridiron where Willis made his biggest athletic mark, as a halfback, as he became the first player in BC history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season when he accumulated 1,107 yards on the ground in 1970. He earned All-America and All-East accolades as a senior, and also played in both the Senior Bowl and Blue-Gray Game that year. He rushed for a then-BC career record of 2,115 yards in only three varsity seasons, earned his bachelor's degree in business administration, and was later inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1977.
Willis then went to play six years of professional football, two with the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted him 93rd overall in 1971, and then four with the Houston Oilers. In 77 career NFL regular-season games, he ran the ball 780 times for 2,831 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also caught 203 passes for 1,380 yards and five touchdowns. As a rookie with Cincinnati, he rushed for a career-high 590 yards and seven scores, before catching a career-high and AFC-leading 57 passes for a personal-best 371 yards two years later in his first full season with Houston.
A successful restaurateur with several chains following the completion of his football career, Willis also went on to serve as the founder, president and CEO of NeuroSport, which assisted athletes with evaluation of concussions, risk assessment, and returning to play, and as founder and executive director of NFL Player Brains Matter. where he advocated for former players who suffered from the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
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