Dave Mays is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He was signed by the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 as an undrafted free agent in 1976. He played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Texas Southern.

Mays also played for the Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Professional career

Mays was a Doctor of Dental Surgery

Doctor of Dental Surgery

There are a number of first professional degrees in dentistry offered by schools in various countries around the world. These include the following:* Doctor of Dental Surgery * Doctor of Dental Medicine * Bachelor of Dentistry...

, even during his playing days with the Browns. He practiced dentistry

Dentistry

Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...

 for twenty years in Greater Cleveland

Greater Cleveland

Greater Cleveland is a nickname for the metropolitan area surrounding Cleveland, Ohio and is part of what used to be the Connecticut Western Reserve.Northeast Ohio refers to a similar but substantially larger area as described below...

.

He is known for filling in for Brian Sipe

Brian Sipe

Brian Winfield Sipe is a former professional American football quarterback who played in the National Football League from 1974 to 1983 and the United States Football League from 1984 to 1985....

, who was knocked out of a game on October 10, 1976 against the Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

. Mays started the season as the #3 quarterback and had never played in the NFL regular season before. He led the Browns to an 18-16 victory. The game is also famously known for an incident in which Turkey Jones piledrived Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw

Terry Bradshaw

Terry Paxton Bradshaw is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League . He played 14 seasons. He is a football analyst and co-host of Fox NFL Sunday...

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