James Archer

Professional Football Player. He played at the position of Defensive Tackle for three seasons (1976 to 1978), in the National Football League (or NFL), with the New York Giants. He was born as James Troyce Archer in Gardena, California, to James Floyd Archer (1926-2017), and his wife Johnnie Marie Williams Archer (1929-2018), on January 16, 1955. He was educated locally and began playing football as a child. When he was six years old his father altered his birth certificate to show that he was eight years old. He attended California High School in Whittier, California, where he excelled in sports including football although he was shorter in stature than most of the other professional football players. Following his high school education and graduation, he attended the prestigious Rio Hondo College in Whittier, California, and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, where he played college football, having grown significantly by this time. While playing college football at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, he was noticed for his talents and was picked in Round 1/Pick 13 of the NFL Draft by the New York Giants in 1976. During his three seasons with the New York Giants, he was coached by Bill Amsparger and John McVay and played with the likes of Craig Morton, Norm Snead, Doug Kotar, Larry Csonka, Marsh White, Gordon Bell, Larry Watkins, Ray Rhodes, Walker Gillette, Steve Crosby, Larry Mallory, Bob Tucker, Jim Robinson, Ed Marshall, Willie Spencer, Emory Moorehead, Ralph Hill, Andy Selfridge, Brian Kelley, Beasley Reece, Al Dixon, Rondy Colbert, Jim Stienke, Bobby Hammond, George Martin, Harry Carson, Dave Jennings, Joe Danelo, Joe Pisarcik, Bill Bryant, Gary Jeter, Dan Lloyd, J.T. Turner, Doug Van Horn, Karl Chandler, Jerry Golsteyn, John Hicks, Ron Mikolajczyk, Jim Pietrzak, Brian Kelley, Ernie Jones, Brad Van Pelt, Clyde Powers, Jack Gregory, John Mendenhall, Dave Gallagher, Pat Hughes, Rick Volk, Brad Cousins, Billy Taylor, Dan Doornink, Ernst Pough, Johnny Perkins, James Thompson, Terry Jackson, John Skoupan, Maurice Tyler, Frank Marion, Odis McKinney, and Gary Shirk. During the course of his professional football career with the New York Rangers his National Football League (or NFL), stats consisted of playing in 38 NFL games, he had 29 Games Started, he had 5 Fumbles Recovered, he had 22 Yards Recovered Fumbles Were Returned, he had 1 Touchdown, his Approximate Value was 17, and his sacks were 16.5. His promising football career was tragically cut short when he was killed in an automobile accident during training camp in North Bergen, New Jersey, on June 22, 1979, at the age of 24. A memorial service was held at the Rieman Funeral Home in Union City, New Jersey, and funeral services were held in Whittier, California, and he was buried in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California. At the time of his death, he was living in Guttenberg, New Jersey. He had no children, but he had a niece named Stephanie, and a nephew named Matthew, who were both born twelve hours apart.