Irving Dale Fryar 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...

 wide receiver

Wide receiver

A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

 of 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...

.

Fryar grew up in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey

Mount Holly Township, New Jersey

Mount Holly Township is a township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States as well as an eastern suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 10,728. It is the county seat of Burlington County....

 and played high school football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 at Rancocas Valley Regional High School

Rancocas Valley Regional High School

Rancocas Valley Regional High School is a regional public high school and school district serving students in grades 9 through 12 from five communities in Burlington County, New Jersey. The district encompasses approximately and comprises the communities of Eastampton Township, Hainesport...

. He now resides in the Jobstown

Jobstown, New Jersey

Jobstown is an unincorporated area within Springfield Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 08041....

 section of Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey

Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,227 people, 1,098 households, and 906 families residing in the township. The population density was 107.4 people per square mile . There were 1,138 housing units at an average density of 37.9 per square mile...

.

College career

An All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n for the University of Nebraska in 1983, Fryar played alongside Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

 winner Mike Rozier

Mike Rozier

Michael Rozier is a former American collegiate and professional football running back who won the Heisman Trophy in 1983. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. Mike and his wife, Rochelle, an attorney, reside in South Jersey and together they have one son. Mike has two other children who reside in...

 (running back) and Heisman finalist Turner Gill

Turner Gill

Turner Hillery Gill is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach at Kansas from 2010-2011, and was one of 11 African-American head coaches in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision at the time of his hiring.-College:Gill graduated from Arlington Heights High...

 (quarterback).

Professional career

Fryar was the first wide receiver to be drafted first overall in the NFL Draft

NFL Draft

The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 when the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

 made him the top selection of the 1984 NFL Draft

1984 NFL Draft

The 1984 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 1-2, 1984. No teams elected to claim any players in the regular supplemental draft that...

.

Fryar played in Super Bowl XX

Super Bowl XX

Super Bowl XX was an American football championship game played on January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1985 regular season...

 with the Patriots and scored their only touchdown in their 46-10 loss to the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

. He played a total of 255 games in his career and made the Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

 five times (1985, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997).

Fryar retired from the NFL in 2001 after completing 17 NFL seasons. During that time, he caught 851 passes for 12,785 yards and 84 touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s, along with one rushing and three punt return touchdowns. He also gained 242 rushing yards, 2,055 yards returning punts, 505 yards on kickoff returns, and 7 fumble return yards, giving him 15,594 all-purpose yards.

His son Londen Fryar played CB for the New York Giants

New York Giants

The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 after a collegiate career at Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....

.

NFL records

• Touchdown receptions from 19 different passers
• Consecutive seasons with 10+ receptions - 17 (1984–2000)
• Consecutive seasons with 150+ receiving yards - 17 (1984–2000)
• Consecutive seasons with 2+ touchdown receptions - 16 (1985–2000)
• Consecutive seasons with 2+ touchdowns - 16 (1985–2000) - tied with Marcus Allen
  Marcus Allen
  Marcus LeMarr Allen is a former American football player and, until recently, was affiliated with CBS as a game analyst. As a professional, Allen ran for 12,243 yards and caught 587 passes for 5,412 yards during his career for both the Los Angeles Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1982 to 1997...
  
  
• 1st player to record a touchdown reception in 17 consecutive seasons (1984–2000) - (broken by Jerry Rice
  Jerry Rice
  Jerry Lee Rice is a retired American football wide receiver. He is generally regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in National Football League history...
  
   who ended up with 20 consecutive seasons with a TD reception)
• Oldest player to score 4 touchdowns (all receptions) in a single game (10/20/1996) - 34 years, 22 days
• 2nd most receiving yards in a half - 211 (2nd half, Sept. 5, 1994) (Steve Largent
  Steve Largent
  Steven Michael "Steve" Largent is a retired American football player, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and a former U.S. Congressman, having served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma from 1994 until 2002...
  
   had 224 in the 1st half against replacement players in 1987)

External links

• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• Irving Fryar at databasefootball.com